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MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



A Story of the Pilgrim Settlement 



BY 



JAMES OTIS A.o./ 




t.~^- 



NEW YORK -:- CINCINNATI -:- CHICAGO 
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 



fee's 



Copyright, 1910, by 

JAMES OTIS KALER 

Entered at Stationers' Hall, London 

w. p. I 



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FOREWORD 

The purpose of this series of stories is to show 
the children, and even those who have already taken 
up the study of history, the home life of the colonists 
with whom they meet in their books. To this end 
every effort has been made to avoid anything savor- 
ing of romance, and to deal only with facts, so far 
as that is possible, while describing the daily life 
of those people who conquered the wilderness whether 
for conscience sake or for gain. 

That the stories may appeal more directly to the 
children, they are told from the viewpoint of a child, 
and purport to have been related by a child. Should 
any criticism be made regarding the seeming neglect 
to mention important historical facts, the answer 
would be that these books are not sent out as 
histories,— although it is believed tliat they will awaken 
a desire to learn more of the building of the nation,— 
and only such incidents as would be particularly 
noted by a child are used. 



4 FOREWORD 

Surely it is entertaining as well as instructive for 
young people to read of the toil and privations in 
the homes of those who came into a new world to 
build up a country for themselves, and such homely 
facts are not to be found in the real histories of 
our land. 

James Otis. 



:\ 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Why This Story Was Written 9 

The Leaking "Speedwell" 10 

Searching for a Home 13 

After the Storm . 15 

Wash Day 16 

Finding the Corn 17 

Attacked by the Savages 20 

Building Houses 22 

Miles Standish 24 

The Sick People 26 

The New Home 27 

Master White and the Wolf 29 

The Inside of The House 30 

A Chimney Without Bricks . . . . . - 32 

Building the Fire 3J 

Master Bradford's Chimney 34 

Scarcity of Food 36 

A Timely Gift 38 

The First Savage Visitor 39 

Squanto's Story 41 

Living in the Wilderness . . . . . .42 

The Friendly Indians 44 

Grinding the Corn . 46 

A Visit From Massasoit 47 

Massasoit's Promise - 5° 

5 



6 CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Massasoit's Visit Returned 52 

The Big House Burned 53 

The "Mayflower" Leaves Port .... 54 

Setting the Table 56- 

What and How We Eat 58 

Table Rules 60 

When the Pilgrim Goes Abroad .... 62 

Making a Dugout - 63 

Governor Carver's Death - 65 

William Bradford Chosen Governor . . . 6^ 

Farming in Plymouth 6dr 

Ways of Cooking Indian Corn 70- 

The Wedding 72 

Making Maple Sugar 73. 

Decorating the Inside of the House ... 74 

Trapping Wolves and Bagging Pigeons . . - 7t> 

Elder Brewster 77 

The Visit to Massasoit 79 

Keeping the Sabbath Holy . . . • . . .80 
Making Clapboards . . . . . . .81 

Cooking Pumpkins 82- 

A New Oven ' ^2) 

Making Spoons and Dishes 84 

The Fort and Meeting-House 86 

The Harvest Festival 89 

How to Play Stoolball 91 

On Christmas Day = - 93 

When the "Fortune" Arrived 94 

Possibility of Another Famine 96 

On Short Allowance 98 

A Threatening Message 99 



CONTENTS 7 



PAGE 



Pine Knots and Candles loi -^ 

Tallow from Bushes 102 

Wicks for the Candles 103 

Dipping the Candles 105 

When James Runs Away 106 

Evil-Minded Indians 109 

LoifG Hours of Preaching no 

John Alden's Tubs 112 — 

English Visitors 113 

Visiting the Neighbors 115 

Why More Fish Are Not Taken . . . -116 

How Wampum is Made 118 

Ministering to Massasoit 119 

The Plot Thwarted 121 

The Captain's Indian 122 

Ballots of Corn 123 

Arrival of the "Ann" 123 

The "Little James" Comes to Port . . - 125 

The New Meeting-House 125 

The Church Service 127 

The Tithingmen 12^ 

Master Winslow Brings Home Cows . . - 130 

A Real Oven . - 131 ^ — 

Butter and Cheese 132 — 

The Settlement at Wessagussett . . . - 133 
The Village of Merrymount . . . . - 135 

The First School 136 

Too Much Smoke 138 

School Comforts 139 

How THE Children Were Punished .... 140 
New Villages 142 



8 CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Making Ready for a Journey i44 

Clothing for the Salem Company . . . .146 

Preparing Food For the Journey . . - - 147 

Before Sailing for Salem 148 

Beginning the Journey 150 

The Arrival at Salem . . ... - - i53 

Sight-Seeing in Salem - i54 

Back to Plymouth i55 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



WHY THIS STORY WAS WRITTEN 



My name is Mary, and I am setting down all these 
things about our people here in this new world, hoping 

some day to send to my dear 
friend, Hannah, who lives in 
Scrooby, England, what may 
really come to be a story, 
even though the writer of it is 
only sixteen years old, having 
lived in Plymouth since the 
day our company landed from 
the Mayflower in 1620, more 
than eleven years ago. 

If Hannah ever really sees 
this as I have written it, she will, I know, be 
amused; for it is set down on pieces of birch bark 
and some leaves cut from the book of accounts 
which Edward Winslow brought with him from 
the old home. 

Hannah will ask why I did not use fair, white paper, 
and, if I am standing by when she does so, I shall tell 




lo MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

her that fair, white paper is far too precious in this 
new world of ours to be used for the pleasure of children. 
In the last ship which came from England were 
large packages of white paper for the settlers at Salem, 
who came over to this wild land eight years after we 
landed, and when I asked my father to buy for me 
three sheets that I might make a little book, he told 

me the price would be 
more for the three 
sheets than he paid for 
the two deer skins 
with which to make 
me a winter coat. 

Of course I put from 
my mind all hope of 
having paper to write 
on; but these sheets of 
bark take very well the ink made from elderberries 
which mother and I brewed the second winter after 
our new home was built. The pen is a quill taken 
from the wing of a wild goose shot by Captain Standish. 




THE LEAKING '' SPEEDV^ELL'' 



Hannah's father must have told her how much of 
trouble we had in getting here, for when the first vessel 
in which we set sail, named the Speedwell, put back to 



THE LEAKING "SPEEDWELL" n 

Plymouth in England because of leaking so badly, 
her master could not have failed to tell the people of 
Scrooby how all the hundred and two of us, men, 
women and children, were crowded into the May- 
flower. 



From the sixth day of September until the eleventh 
day of November, which is over sixty long dreary days, 
we were on the ocean, and then our vessel was come 
into what Captain John Smith had named Cape Cod 
Bay. 

Mother believed, as did the other women, and even 
we children, that we would go on shore as soon as the 
Mayflower had come near to the land ; but before many 
hours were passed, after the anchor had been dropped 
into the sea, even the youngest of us knew that it could 
not be. ^ 



12 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



We were weary with having been on board the 
vessel so long, and had made ourselves believe that as 
soon as we were arrived in the new world, food in 

plenty, with good, 
comfortable homes, 
would be ours. 

Master Brewster, 
as well as the other 
men, said that houses 
must be built before 
we could leave the 
ship, and it was only 
needed we should go 
on deck and look 
about us, to know 
why this was so. 
Everywhere, except 
on the water, were 
snow and trees. It was a real forest as far as I could 
see in either direction, and everywhere the cold, 
white snow was piled in drifts, or blowing like feathers 
when the wind was high. 

So deeply was the land covered that we, who watched 
the men when they went ashore for the first time to 
seek out some place whereon to make a village, thought 
that they had fallen into a hole while stepping off the 
rocks, because we lost sight of them so soon. Instead 




SEARCHING FOR A HOME 13 

of its being an accident, however, we could see that 
they were floundering in the snow, Master Bradford, 
whose legs are the shortest, being nearly lost to view. 

We waited as patiently as possible for them to come 
back, though I must confess that Sarah, a girl 
of about my own age who came aboard the Mayflower 
at Plymouth when we put back because of the Speed- 
welVs leaking so badly, and I could not keep in check 
our eagerness to hear from those people in Virginia, 
who it was said were living in comfort. 

Not for many days did we come to realize that the 
settlers in Virginia were far, very far away from where 
we were to land, and to see them we should be forced 
to take another long voyage in a ship. We had come 
amidst the snow and the savage Indians, instead of 
among people from England, as had been planned 
when we set out on the journey. 

SEARCHING FOR A HOME 

Father was wet, cold, weary, and almost discouraged 
when he came on board the vessel after that first day on 
shore. The men had found no place which looked as if 
it might be a good spot for our village. Father said 
that he was not the only member of the company who 
had begun to believe it would have been better had we 
stayed in Leyden, or in any other place where we 



14 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



would have been allowed to worship God in our 
own way, rather than thus have ventured into a wild 
forest where were fierce animals, and, perhaps, yet 
more cruel savages. 

On that very night, soon after our fathers were on 
board again, a great storm came up. The vessel 
tumbled about as if she had been on the broad ocean, 
and when we heard the men throwing out more anchors, 
we children were afraid and cried, for Sarah's father 
said he believed the Mayjloiver would be cast ashore 
and wrecked on the cruel rocks over which the waves 
were dashing themselves into foam. 

Some of the women were frightened, although my 
mother was not of the number, and it was only when 

Master Brewster 
came among us, 
praying most fer- 
vently, and say- 
ing that God 
would watch over 
us even as He had 
on the mighty 
ocean, that the 
cries and sobs of 
fear were checked. Truly did I think, while Sarah 
and I hugged each other very hard so that we might 
not be heard to cry, that this was a most Vv' retched 




AFTER THE STORM 15 

place in which to make a new home, and how I wished 
we had never left Leyden, or that we had gone back to 
Scrooby instead of coming here! 

AFTER THE STORM 

It was Saturday when our vessel first came to an- 
chor, and the storm held furious until Monday morn- 
ing, when the snow was piled up higher than before, 
and many of the smaller trees were hidden from sight; 
but yet our fathers went on shore when the sun shone 
once more, while the sailors made ready to launch the 
big boat which they call the shallop. It had been 
tied down on the deck of the Mayflower, taking up so 
much space that, because of her, we children could not 
move around comfortably on deck even when the 
weather permitted. 

Some of th-^ upper timbers had been broken by the 
waves during the storms which came upon us while 
we were on the ocean, and it was said that much in 
the way of mending must be done before she could be 
made seaworthy. Therefore, owing to the need of 
room in which to work, the sailors took her ashore 
where it could be done with somewhat of comfort. 

You must know that a shallop is a large boat, much 
larger than the one belonging to our ship, which is 
called a longboat. To my mind a shallop is like unto 



i6 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



a vessel such as the Speedwell, except that it is much 
smaller, capable of holding no more than twenty-five 
or thirty people. It has one mast, a sail, and oars, and, 
as father has told me, any one might safely make a 
long voyage in such a craft. 

WASH DAY 

Captain Standish led the company of men, among 
which was my father, into the forest to search for a 




place in which to make our new home, and when we 
lost sight of them among the trees, it seemed as if we 
were more alone than before. 

Sarah and I could not stay on deck to watch the 
men while they worked, because the cold was too 



WASH DAY 17 

severe, therefore we went into the cabin where were 
other children huddled around the stove, and there 
tried to imagine what our homes would be like in 
such a desolate place. 

While the sailors worked on the shallop, many of 
the women went on shore to wash clothes near the fire 
which had been built by the men, and a most dismal 
time they had, as we children heard when they came 
back at night. They were forced to melt snow in 
Master Brewster's big iron pot, and when the hot water 
had been poured into the tub, it speedily began to 
freeze. Mother said that the clothes were but little 
improved by having been washed in such a manner. 

Next morning the cold was so bitter that the women 
and children did not venture much out on the deck of 
the vessel, save when one or another ran up to see if 
those who had set off to find a place for our new home 
were returning. The sailors continued work on the 
shallop during two days, and each time on coming back 
to the Mayflower for food or shelter, brought a load of 
wood in their boat so that we might have fuel in plenty 
for our fires on the ship. 

FINDING THE CORN 

Not until Friday evening did our fathers come back; 
no one of all the party of seventeen was missing, 

MARY OF PLYMOUTH 2 



i8 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



although it seemed to me they had been in great 
danger. 

Before they had gone on their journey more than a 
mile from the Mayflower, they saw five savages and a 
dog coming toward them, and hastened forward to 
learn what they might about this new world. The 
Indians ran among the trees as soon as they saw our 
people, and they ran so swiftly it was impossible to 
overtake them. 




After making chase without coming upon the savages, 
Captain Standish led the way along the shore until 



FINDING THE CORN 19 

next day they came upon what looked as if an Indian 
village had once been in that place, for the land had 
been dug over much as though to raise crops, and there 
were what appeared to be many graves. On opening 
one of these piles of sand, there were found two bas- 
kets full of what one of the sailors said was Indian corn; 
but another declared it was Turkish wheat, while Cap- 
tain Standish believed it should be called Guinny wheat. 
It had been left near the graves, for these savages believe 
that even after people are dead, they need food. 

Later, when we had become acquainted with Samo- 
set and Squanto, we came to know that on the spot 
which had been chosen for our home, there had been 
a large Indian village. Four years before we of the 
Mayflower came, a terrible sickness had attacked the 
settlement of savages, and more than two hundred 
died. Those who were alive and able to walk, deserted 
the place to go many miles into the forest away from 
the sea, and, except for the graves which our people ' 
found, every trace of the town was wiped out, the 
savages believing that only by the destruction of every- 
thing connected with the settlement, could the evil 
spirit of the mysterious sickness be cast out. 

Our men were very glad to find this wheat, and as 
soon as they had brought it aboard the vessel, the 
women set about boiling some, for that seemed to be 
the only way in which it could be eaten, since it is hard, 



20 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

almost like flint. Neither Sarah nor I, hungry though 
we were, felt like eating what had been left for dead 
people; but we did taste of it, and found it very good, 
even though it had not been cooked quite enough. 

It was not long, however, before we found out how 
to prepare it, and many a time since then has it saved 
us from starving, but of that I will tell you later. 

ATTACKED BY THE SAVAGES 

On the sixth of December, the shallop having been 
made ready for sea, the men started away to search 
once more for a place in which to build homes, and 
on the very next day, while they were sleeping in the 
forest in a hut that had been built of dead tree trunks 
and bushes, they were set upon by savages, who shot 
arrows among them. 

There were thirty or forty of these savages, but as soon 
as our men fired upon them, they speedily disappeared. 
Our men then picked up the arrows, some of which 
were fashioned with heads of brass or eagles' claws. 

No one was hurt by these weapons, although one of 
theni passed through father's coat, and many were 
found sticking in the logs. Then our people gave 
solemn thanks to God because of having been saved 
from the savage foe, and afterward gathered up many 
of the arrows to be sent back to Ensrland, that our 



ATTACKED BY THE SAVAGES 



21 




friends there might see what were the dangers to be 
met with in the woods of this new world. 

Five long, dreary days went by before the company 
came back once more, and then we were made happy 
by being told that a place for our village had been 
found. It was a long distance from where the May- 
flower lay at anchor; and on the next morning another 
great storm came up, which forced us to stay on board 
the vessel until the fifteenth of December, when we 
set sail, and Sarah and I hugged each other fervently, 
for at last did it appear as if we could begin to make 
our homes. ^ 

Even then we were forced to stay in the Mayflower 



22 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



yet longer, for after we were come into the bay where 
it had been said we should hve, the men spent a long 
while choosing a place in which to build the houses. 



BUILDING HOUSES 



It was agreed to build first one large house of logs, 
where we could all live until each man had chosen a 
place for himself, and both Sarah and I were on shore, 
standing almost knee-deep in the snow on that twenty- 
fifth of December, as we watched the men hew down 
trees, trim off the branches, and dig in the frozen ground 

to set up the first 
dwelling in this 
strange land. 

The first thing 
done was to build 
a high platform, 
where the cannon 
that had been 
brought from 
England could be 
placed, so that the 
savages might be beaten off if they came to do us 
harm, and then the big house was begun. 

Of course we women and children were forced to go 
back on board the vessel while the work was being 




BUILDING HOUSES 23 

done, and very slowly was it carried on, because of the 
cold's being so great, and the storms so many, that our 
people could not work out of doors long at a time. 

Our village was begun in the midst of the forest not 
very far from the seashore, where had been huts 
built by the savages ; and because of the Indians having 
chosen that place in which to live, our people beheved 
it would be well for them to make there the town which 
was to be called Plymouth, since it was from Plymouth 
in England that we had started on the voyage which 
ended in this wild place. 

When mother asked father why the men did not 
search longer, instead of fixing upon a spot to which 
the savages might come back at any moment, he told 
her that much time must be spent in building houses, 
and not an hour should be wasted. They ought to 
get on shore as soon as possible in order to begin hunt- 
ing, for the food we had on the Mayflower was by this 
time so poor that neither Sarah nor I could swallow' 
the smallest mouthful with any pleasure. 

Sarah and I were eager to be living on dry land once 
more, where we could move about as we pleased; for, 
large though the Mayflower had seemed to us when we 
first went on board, there was little room for all our 
company, and very many were grown so sick that they 
could not get out on deck even when the sun shone warm 
and bright. 



24 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

There were nineteen plots for houses laid out in all, 
because of the company's being divided into nineteen 
families. The plots were on two sides of a way running 
along by a little brook, where, so I heard my father 
say, one could get sweet fresh water to drink. It was 
decided that each man should build his own house. 

The plot of land where father was to build our house 
was quite near the bay, but yet so far in among the 
trees as to be shaded from the sun in the summer, 
while Master Carver, who was chosen to be our govern- 
or, was to build his only a short distance away. 

MILES STANDISH 

You must know that Captain Standish is not of the 
same faith as are we. He calls himself a "soldier of 
fortune," which means that he is ready to do battle 
wherever it seems as if he could strike a blow for the 
right. He, and his wife Rose, became friendly with 
us while we were at Leyden, for he was, although an 
Englishman, a captain in one of the Holland regiments, 
having enlisted in order to help the Dutch in their 
wars. 

Because of liking a life of adventure, and also owing 
to the fact that he and his wife had become warm friends 
with Elder Brewster and my parents, Captain Standish 
declared that he would be our soldier, standing ever 




MILES STANDISH 25 

ready to guard us against the wild beasts, or the sav- 
ages, if any should come to do us harm. Right gal- 
lantly has he kept his promise, and unless he 
had been with us this village of ours might 
have been destroyed more than once, and, 
perhaps, those of our people whose lives 
God had spared would have gone back to 
Holland or England, ceasing to strive for a 
foothold in this new world which is so deso- 
late when covered with snow and ice. 
A most kindly-hearted man is Cap- 
tain Standish, and yet there are times 
when he has but slight control over his 
temper. Like a flash of powder when 
SwoKis of a spark falls upon it, he flares up with 
stanc^sh Hiauy a harsh word, and woe betide 
those against whom he has just cause for 
anger. 

After coming to know him for one who 
strove not to control his tongue in moments 
of wrath, the Indians gave him the name of 
"Little pot that soon boils over," which means 
that his anger can be aroused quickly. He is not 
small, neitheV is he as tall as my father or Elder 
Brewster; but the savages spoke of him as "little," 
measuring him, I suppose, with many others of our 
people. 



26 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

We had not been long in Plymouth, however, before 
the Indians understood what a valiant soldier he is, and 
then they began to call him ^'Strong Sword." 

THE SICK PEOPLE 

It was yet very cold while our fathers were putting 
up the houses, and the sickness increased, so that at 
one time before the women and children could go on 
shore, nearly one half of our company were unable 
to sit up. All the while the food was very bad, save 
when more baskets of Indian corn were found. 

One evening, when father had come on board the 
vessel after working very hard on our house, I heard 
him say to mother that we must try to be cheerful, 
praying to God that the sickness which was upon our 
people so sorely would pass us by until we could build 
the home, plant a garden, and raise food from the 
earth. 

Sarah and I often asked each other when we were 
alone, whether the good Lord, w^hom we strove to 
serve diligently, would allow us to starve to death in 
this strange land where we had hoped to be so very 
near Him; for, indeed, as the days passed and the food 
we had brought with us from England became more 
nearly unfit to eat, it was as if death stood close 
at hand. 



THE NEW HOME 



27 



THE NEW HOME 

It seemed like a very long while before the houses 
were ready so that we who were well could go on shore 
to live. I must tell you what our home is like. In 
Scrooby, when one builds a house, he has the trees 
sawed into timbers and boards at a mill; but in this 
new land we had no mills. When a man in England 
wants to make a chimney, he buys bricks and mor- 




tar; but here, as father said, we had plenty of clay and 
lime, yet could not put them to proper use until tools 



28. MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

were brought across the sea with which to work such 
material into needed form. 

There was plenty of granite and other rock out of 
which to make cellars and walls ; but no one could cut 
it, and even though it was already shaped, we had no 
horses with which to haul it. Think for a moment 
what it must mean not to have cows, sheep, oxen, 
horses or chiS^ens, and we had none of these for three 
or four years. 

My father built the house we are now living in, al- 
most alone, having but little help from the other men 
when he had to raise the heavy timbers. First, after 
clearing away the snow, he dug a hole in the frozen 
ground, two or three feet deep, making it of the same 
shape as he had planned the house. Then, having 
cut down trees for timbers, he stood them upright all 
around the inside of this hole, leaving here a place for 
a door, and there another for a window, until the 
sides and ends of the building were made. 

On the inside he filled the hole again with the earth 
he had taken out at the beginning, pounding it down 
solid to form a floor, and at the same time to help make 
the logs more secure in an upright position. Where 
the floor of earth does not hold the timbers firmly 
enough, what are called puncheons are fastened to 
the outside just beneath the roof. 

Puncheons are logs that have been split and trimmed 



MASTER WHITE AND THE WOLF 



29 



with axes until they are something like planks, and you 
will see very many in our village of Plymouth. Hard 
work it is indeed to make these puncheon planks; 
but they were needed to fasten crosswise on the sides 
and ends of our house, in order to hold the logs more 
firmly in place. 

Across the top of the house, slanting them so much 
that the water would 
run off, father placed 
a layer of logs to make 
the roof. 

Three puncheons 
were put across the 
inside of the roof, 
being fastened with pegs of wood, for the few nails 
we have among us are of too much value to be used 
in house building. 

That the roof might prevent the water from running 
into the house, father stripped bark from hemlock trees, 
and placed it over the logs two or three layers deep, 
fastening the whole down with poles cut from young 
trees. 




MASTER WHITE AND THE W^OLF 



Of course, when this home was first built, there were 
many cracks between the logs on the sides and ends; 



30 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



but these mother and I stuffed full of moss and clay, 
while father was cutting wood for the fire, until the 
wind no longer 
finds free entrance, 
and we are not 
like to be in the 
same plight as was 
Master White, less 
than two months 
after we came 
ashore to live. 
He Avould not 
spend the time to 
fill up the cracks, 

as we had done, and one night while he lay in bed, a 
hungry wolf thrust his paw through and scratched the 
poor man's head so severely that the blood ran freely. 
Sarah thinks he must have awakened very quickly 
just then. 




THE INSIDE OF THE HOUSE 



We have a partition inside our house, thus dividing 
the lower part into two rooms. It is made of clay, 
with which has been mixed beach grass. Mother and 
I made a white liquid of powdered clam shells and 
water, with which we painted it until one would 



THE INSIDE OF THE HOUSE 



31 



think it the same kind of wall you have in Scrooby. 
With pieces of logs we children helped to pound the 
earth inside until the floor was smooth and firm; but 
father promised that at some later time we should have 
a floor of puncheons, as indeed we have now, and 
very nice and comfortable it is. 

I wish you might see it after mother and I have 
covered it well with clean white sand from the sea- 
shore, and marked 

■^^' i -Mi^K :■■!:■• ^^ ^^ P^^^^^ patterns 
of vines and leaves : 

but this last we do 

only when making 

the house ready for 

meeting, or for some 

great feast. 

At the windows 

are shutters made of puncheons, as is also the door, 

and both are hung with straps of leather in the stead' 

of real hinges. 

Perhaps you may think that with only a puncheon 

shutter at the window, we must perforce sit in darkness 

when it storms, or in cold weather admit too much 

frost in order to have light. But let me tell you 

that our windows are closed quite as well as yours, 

though not so nicely. We brought from home some 

stout paper, and this, plentifully oiled, we nailed across 




32 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



the window space. Of course we cannot look out to 
see anything; but the light finds its way through readily. 



A CHIMNEY WITHOUT BRICKS 

I had almost forgotten to tell you how father built 

a chimney without 
either bricks or mortar, 
for of course we had 
none of those things 
when we first made our 
village. 

Our chimney is of 
logs plastered plenti- 
fully with clay, and 
fastened to the outside 
of the building, with a 
hole cut through the side 
of the house that the fire- 
place may be joined to it. 
The fireplace itself is 
built of clay, made into 
walls as one would lay 
up bricks, and held 

firmly together by being mixed with dried beach grass. 
It looks somewhat like a large, square box, open in 

front, and with sides and ends at least two feet thick. 




BUILDING THE FIRE 



33 



It is so large that Sarah and I might stand inside, if 
so be the heat from the fire was not too great, and 
look straight out through it at the sky. 

Father drags in, as if he were a horse, logs which are 
much larger around than is my body, and mother, or 
one of the neighbors, helps him roll them into the big 
fireplace where, once aflame, they burn from one 
morning until another. 

BUILDING THE FIRE 



The greatest trouble we have, or did have during 
our first winter here, was in holding the fire, for the 
wood, having just 
been cut in the 
forest, is green, 
and the fire very 
like to desert it 
unless we keep 
close watch. Nei- 
ther mother nor I 
can strike a spark with flint and steel as ably as can 
many women in the village; therefore, when, as hap- 
pened four or five times, we lost our fire, one of us took 
a strip of green bark, or a shovel, and borrowed from 
whosoever of our neighbors had the brightest blaze, 
enough of coals to set our own hearth warm again. 




MARY OF PLYMOUTH 3 



34 -MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

Some of the housewives who are more skilled in 
the use of firearms than my mother or myself, kindle 
a blaze by flashing a little powder in the pan of a gun, 
allowing the flame to strike upon the tinder, and thus 
be carried to shavings of dry wood. It is a speedy 
way of getting fire ; but one needs to be well used to the 
method, else the fingers or the face will get more of 
heat than does the tinder. Father cautions us against 
such practice, declaring that he will not allow his 
weapons to remain unloaded simply for kitchen use, 
when at any moment the need may arise for a ready 
bullet. 

But we have in Plymouth one chimney of which 
even you in Scrooby might be proud. 

MASTER BRADFORD'S CHIMNEY 

Master Bradford built what is a perfect luxury 
of a chimney, which shows what a man can do who 
has genius, and my mother says he showed great skill 
in thus building. If you please, his chimney is of 
stone, even though we have no means of cutting rock, 
such as is known at Scrooby. He sought here and 
there for fiat stones, laying them one upon another 
with a plentiful mixture of clay, until he built a chim- 
ney which cannot be injured by fire, and yet is even 
larger than ours. 



MASTER BRADFORD'S CHIMNEY 



3? 



Its heart is so big that I am told Master Bradford 
himself can climb up through it without difficulty, and 
at the bottom, or, rather, where the fireplace ends and 
the chimney begins, is a shelf on either side, across 
which is laid a bar of green wood lest it burn too quick- 
ly; on this the pot-hooks and pot-claws may be hung 
by chains. 




It would seem as if all this had made Master Brad- 
ford over vain, for because the wooden bar, which he 
calls a backbar, has been burned through twice, there- 
by spoiling the dinner, he has sent to England for an 
iron one, and when it comes his family may be proud 
indeed, for only think how easily one can cook when 
there are so many conveniences! 




36 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

We are forced to put our pots and pans directly on 
the coals, and it burns one's hands terribly at times, 
if the fire is too bright. Besides, the cinders fall on 
the tread of meal, which causes much delay in the 
eating, because so much time is necessary in scraping 
them off, and even at the best, 
I often get more of ashes than 
is pleasant to the taste. 

Bread of any kind is such a 
rarity with us that we can ill afford 
to have it spoiled by ashes. Dur- 
ing the first two years we had only 
Skillets from the ''May- ^h^ meal from Indian corn with 
flower" which to make it; but when we 

were able to raise rye, it was mixed with the other, 
and we had a most wholesome bread, even though it 
was exceeding dark in color. 

SCARCITY OF FOOD 

In Scrooby one thinks that he must have bread of 
Siome kind for breakfast; but we here in Plymouth 
have instead of wheaten loaves, pudding made of ground 
Indian corn, sometimes sweetened, but more often only 
salted, and with it alone we satisfy our hunger during at 
least tvv'O out of the three meals. I can remember of 
two seasons when all the food we had for more than 



SCARCITY OF FOOD 



37 



three months, was this same hasty pudding, as we soon 
learned to call it. 

That first winter we spent here was so dreadful and 
so long that I do not like even to think of it. Nearly 
all the food we had brought from England was spoiled 
before we came ashore. 

There were many times when Sarah and I were so 
hungry that we cried, with our arms around each 
other's neck, as if 
being so close to- 
gether w^ould still 
the terrible feeling 
in our stomachs. 

All the men who 
were able to walk 
went hunting; but 
at one time, before 
the warm weather 
came again, only 
five men were well 
enough to tramp 
through the forest, 
and these five had, 
in addition, to chop wood for the whole village. 

Mother and the other women who were not on beds 
of sickness, went from house to house, doing what 
they might for those who were ill, while we children 




38 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

were sent to pick up dead branches for the fires, be- 
cause at times the men were not able to cut wood 
enough for the needs of all. 

Then so many died! Each day we were told that 
this neighbor or that had been called to Heaven. I 
have heard father often say since then, that the hardest 
of the work during those dreadful days, was to dig 
graves while the earth was frozen so solidly. 

Think! Fifty out of our little company of one hun- 
dred and two, Captain Standish's wife among the 
others, were called by God, and as each went out into 
the other world, we who were left on earth felt more 
and more keenly our helplessness and desolation. 

A TIMELY GIFT 

It was fortunate indeed for us that Captain Standish 
was among those able to labor for others, else had we 
come much nearer dying by starvation. A famous 
hunter is the captain, and one day, when I was search- 
ing for leaves of the checkerberry plant under the snow, 
mother having said the chewing of them might save 
me from feeling so hungry, Captain Standish dropped 
a huge wild turkey in front of me. 

It seemed like a gift from God, and although it was 
very heavy, I dragged it home, forgetting everything 
except that at last we should have something to eat. 



THE FIRST SAVAGE VISITOR 



39 



Many days afterward I heard that the captain went 
supperless to bed that day, and when I charged him 
with having given to me what he needed for himself, 
he laughed heartily, as if it were a rare joke, saying 
that old soldiers like 
himself had long 
since learned how to 
buckle their belts 
more tightly, thus 
causing it to seem 
as if their stomachs 
were full. 

A firm friend is Cap- 
tain Standish, and 
God was good in that 
he was sent with us 
on the Mayflower. 

It was when our troubles were heaviest, that Sarah 
came to my home because her mother was taken sick,- 
and Mistress Bradford, who went there to do what 
she might as nurse, told Sarah to stay in some other 
house for a time. 




THE FIRST SAVAGE VISITOR 



We two were standing just outside the door of my 
home, breaking twigs to be used for brightening the 



40 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



fire in the morning, when suddenly a real savage, the 
first I had ever seen, dressed in skins, with many 
feathers on his head, came into the village crying: 
''Welcome English!" 

Women and children, all who were able to do so, 
ran out to see him, the first visitor we had had in Ply- 
mouth. His skin was 
very much darker than 
ours , being almost 
save for 
one might 



brown, and 

the color 

have believed him to 

be a native of Scrooby 

dressed in outlandish 

fashion to take part in 

some revel. 

Father was the more 
surprised because of 
hearing him speak in 
our language , than 
because of his odd dress; but we afterward learned 
that he had met, two or three years before, some 
English fishermen, and they had taught him a few 
words. 

Very friendly he was, so much so that when he put 
his hand on my head I was not afraid, and I myself 
heard him talking with Master Brewster, during which 




SQUANTO'S STORY 41 

conversation he spoke a great many Indian words, 
and some in English that I could understand. 

His name was Samoset, and after he had looked 
around the village, seeming to be surprised at the 
manner in which our houses of logs were built, he 
went away, much to my disappointment, for I had 
hoped, without any reason for so doing, that he might 
give me a feather from the splendid headdress he wore. 

As I heard afterward, he promised to come back 
again, and when, six days later, he did so, there was 
with him another Indian, one who could talk almost 
the same as do our people. His was a strange story, 
or so it seemed to me, so strange and cruel that I wonder- 
ed how he could be friendly with us, as he appeared to 
be, because of having suffered so much at the hands 
of people whose skins were white. 

Squanto had been a member of the same tribe that 
owned the land where our village of Plymouth was 
built, and his real name, so Governor Bradford says, 
is Squantum. 

SQUANTO's STORY 

Seven years before the Mayflower came, he had 
been stolen by one Captain Hunt, who had visited 
these shores on a fishing voyage, and by him was sent 
to Spain and sold as a slave. There a good English- 



42 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

man saw him and bought him of his master. He was 
taken to London, where he worked as a servant until 
an exploring party, sent out by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, 
was about to set sail for this country, when he was 
given passage. 

While he had been in slavery, the dreadful sickness 
broke out, which killed or drove away all his people; 
therefore, when the poor fellow came back, he found 
none to welcome him. 

How it was I cannot say, but in some way he wander- 
ed about until coming among the tribe of Indians 
called the Wampanoags, where he lived until Samoset 
happened to come across him. 

As soon as he knew that we of Plymouth were Eng- 
lish people, he had a desire to be friendly, because of 
what the good Englishman had done for him. 

I have heard father say many times that but for 

. Squanto, perhaps all of us might have died during that 

terrible winter when the good Lord took fifty of our 

company, which numbered, when we left England, 

but an hundred and two. 

LIVING IN THE WILDERNESS 

You must know that in this land everything is dif- 
ferent from what you see in England. Of course the 
trees are the same; but oh, so many of them! We 



LIVING IN THE WILDERNESS 



43 



are living now, even after our homes have been made, 
in the very midst of the wilderness, and in that winter 
time when Squanto and Samoset came to us, bringing 
the corn we needed so sorely, we were much like pris- 
oners, for the snow was piled everywhere in great 
drifts. 




The trees, growing thickly over the ground, save 
where they had been cut down to build our homes and 
to provide us with wood for the fires, prevented all, 
except such of the men as were well enough to go out 
with their guns in the hope of shooting animals that 
could be eaten as food, from going abroad, save from 
one house to the other. 



44 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

And little heart had we for leaving the shelter of our 
homes. In nearly every house throughout the village 
was there sickness or death; the cold was piercing, 
and, however industriously we had worked filling 
the cracks between the logs with clay, the wind came 
through in many places, so that for the greater part of 
the time we needed to hug closely to the fire lest we 
freeze to death. 

There were days when it seemed indeed as if the 
Lord had forgotten us; when, with the hunger, and 
the cold, and the sickness on every hand, it was as if 
we had been abandoned by our Maker. 

THE FRIENDLY INDIANS 

With the coming of Samoset and Squanto, how- 
ever, although the illness was not abated, and one 
after another of our company died, it seemed, perhaps 
only to us children, as if things were changed. These 
Indians were the only two persons in all the great 
land who were willing to take us by the hand and do 
whatsoever they might to cheer, and because of this 
show of kindness did we feel the happier. 

Squanto, as father has said again and again, did 
very much to aid. First he showed our people how 
to fish, and this may seem strange to you, for the Eng- 
lish had used hooks and lines many years before the 



THE FRIENDLY INDIANS 



45 



New World was dreamed of; yet, it is true that the 
savages could succeed, even without proper tackle, 
better than did our people. 

Squanto showed father how, by treading on the banks 
of the brooks, to force out the eels which had buried 
themselves in the mud during the cold weather, and 
then taught him how to catch them with his hands, 
so that many a day, when there was nothing whatso- 
ever in our home to eat, we hunted for eels, boiling 
rather than frying them, because 
the little store of pork was no 
longer fit to cook with. 

Another thing which Squanto 
did that was wondrously helpful, 
was to teach us how to grind this 
Indian corn, Guinny wheat, or 
Turkic wheat, which ever it should 
be called, for none of us seemed 
to know which was the right 
name for it. The wheat that we found among' 
the Indian graves could be made ready for the 
table, as we believed, only by boiling it a full day, 
and then it was not pleasing to the taste. But when 
Squanto came, he explained that it should be pounded 
until it was like unto a coarse flour, when it might be 
made into a pudding that, eaten with salt, is almost 
delicious. 




46 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



GRINDING THE CORN 



When I heard him telling father that it must be 
ground, I said to myself that we were not like to know 
how it might taste, for there is not a single mill in this 
land; but Squanto first cut a large tree down, leaving 
the stump a full yard in height. Then, by building 
a fire on the stump, scraping away with a sharp rock 
the wood as fast as it was charred, he made a hollow 
like unto a hole, and so deep that one might put in 
half a bushel of this Turkic wheat. 

From another portion of the tree he shaped a block 
of wood to fit exactly the hole in the stump, and this 

he fastened to the top of a 
young, slender tree, when 
even we children knew that 
he had made a mortar and 
pestle, although an exceed- 
ing rude one. 

We had only to pull down 
the heavy block with all our 
strength upon the corn, thus bruising and crushing 
it, when the natural spring of the young tree would 
pull it up again. In this way did we grind our Guinny 
wheat until it was powdered so fine that it might be 
cooked in a few moments. 




A VISIT FROM MASSASOIT 



47 



A VISIT FROM MASSASOIT 



One day Samoset, Squanto, and three other savages 
came into our new village of Plymouth, walking very 
straight and putting on such appearance of importance 
that I followed them as they went to the very center 




of the settlement, for it seemed to me that something 
strange was about to happen, as indeed proved to be 
the case. 

The Indians had come to tell our governor that 
their king, or chief, was in the forest close by, having 



48 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

in mind to visit the Englishmen, and asked if he should 
enter the village. 

I was so busy looking at the feathers and skins 
which these messengers wore that I did not hear what 
reply Captain Standish made, for he it was who had 
been called upon by Governor Carver to make answer; 
but presently a great throng of savages, near sixty I 
was told, could be seen through the trees as they 
marched straight toward us. 

Then my heart really stood still, as I saw Master 
Winslow w^alking out to meet them, with a pot of 
strong water in his hand ; but Captain Standish said 
I need not be afraid, as he was only going to greet 
the chief of the Indians, carrying the strong water, 
three knives, a copper chain, an earring, and some- 
what in the way of food. 

It seemed hke woeful waste to give that which was 
of so much value to a savage, but Captain Standish said 
it would be well if we could gain the favor of this power- 
ful Indian even at the expense of all the most precious 
of our belongings. 

A brave show did the savages make as they came 
into the village, marching one after the other! The 
feathers were of every color, and in such quantity it 
seemed as if all the birds in the world could not yield 
so many, even though every one was plucked naked. 
And the furs! The chief, whose name is Massasoit, 



A VISIT FROM MASSASOIT 



49 



wore over his shoulders a mantle so long that it dragged 
on the snow behind him, and he had belts and chains 
of what looked to be beads; but Captain Standish 
told me it was what the Indians called wampum, and 
served them in the place of money. 

Governor Carver stood at the door of Elder Brews- 
ter's house, which as yet had no roof, and beckoned 




for the chief and those who followed him, to enter. 
Inside were Mistress Carver's rug and mother's two 
cushions, which had been laid on the ground for the 
savage to sit on, and greatly did I fear that all those 
precious things would be spoiled before the visit was 
come to an end. 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 4 



so MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

^I cannot tell you what was said or done, for neither 
Sarah nor I could get inside Master Brewster's house, 
so crowded was it with the men of our village and 
with savages. More than half of those who had come 
with the chief were forced to remain outside, because 
of there not being space for all within the walls. 
Sarah and I had our fill of looking at them ; but never 
one gave the slightest attention to us. It seemed 
much as if they believed their station was so high 
that it would be beneath their dignity to speak with 
children. 



The savages and our people were long in the half- 
built house, and both Sarah and I wondered what 
could be going on to take up so much time, more es- 
pecially since we knew that, of the Indians, only Sam- 
oset and Squanto could speak in English. Later we 
came to understand that this chief, Massasoit, was 
making a bargain with the men of Plymouth. 

My father called it a treaty, which, so mother ex- 
plained to me, is the same as an agreement between 
two nations. 

Massasoit, being the ruler over all the Indians near- 
by our village, promised that neither he nor any of 
his tribe should do any manner of harm to us of Ply- 



MASSASOIT'S PROMISE 



5^ 



mouth; but if any wicked ones did work mischief, they 
should be sent to our governor to be punished. 

He promised also that if anything was stolen by his 
people from us, he would make sure it was sent back, 
and if, which is by no means likely, any of us living in 
Plymouth took from the Indians 
aught of their property, our gov- 
ernor should send it straightway 
to the savages. 

Massasoit said that if any Indi- 
ans came to fight or kill our people, 
he would send some of his men to 
help us, and if any tried to hurt 
his people, our fathers must take 
sides with him. Both Sarah and 
I think this is wrong, for why 
should Englishmen fight for the 




It seems to me much as if the white men should 
not agree to go to war with any except those who try 
to kill us; but father said it was no more than a fair 
trade. 

All this was agreed to while Elder Brewster's house 
was so full of visitors and our people, that they must 
have been packed together like herring in a box, and 
when the bargain, or treaty, had been made, all the 
savages, except Samoset and Squanto, marched away. 



52 



MARY OF PLYAIOUTH 



Soon after Massasoit had gone, his brother, Quade- 
quina, and several more Indians appeared, and we 
entertained them also. 

It was much like a feast day, to have so many people 
in this new village of ours that all the space beneath 
the trees seemed to be crowded, and we felt quite 
lonely when our fathers took up once more the work 
of building houses. 

y 

massasoit' S VISIT RETURNED 



Next day Captain Standish and Master Allerton 
went to call upon Massasoit, and I was so frightened 

that I trembled when they 
marched away, for it seemed 
to me as if some harm would 
be done them in the savage 
village. 

They came back at nightfall, 
none the worse for having 
been so venturesome, and what 
do you think they brought as 
a present from the chief? A 
few handfuls of nuts such as 
grow in the ground, and many 
leaves of a plant called to- 
bacco, which these savages burn in a little stone vessel 




THE BIG HOUSE BURNED 53 

vessel at the end of a long, hollow reed, by putting the 
reed in their mouths, and sucking the smoke through 
to keep the herb alight. 

This ended our round of pleasure, the first we had 
had for many a long day, and once more we trembled 
before the sickness which was destroying so many 
of our people. 

THE BIG HOUSE BURNED 

It was yet winter when we met with a sad loss, for 
the Common House, as we called it, when speaking 
of that first building which was put up that all of us 
might have a shelter on shore while the dwellings 
were being built, took fire, and much of it was 
burned. Father believes that the logs in the fire- 
place had been piled too high, because of the weather's 
being so very cold, and thus the flames came directly 
upon the chimney and the backbar, kindling all into 
a blaze. 

It was most mournful to see next morning, the black- 
ened, smoldering logs of our first house which had 
served as a shelter less than one month, and mother 
says it was a warning to us that even our own 
homes are in danger of being speedily destroyed, 
unless the chimneys can be so built as to resist 
fire. 



54 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



THE '^MAYFLOWER" LEAVES PORT 



All was excitement in this little village when our 
people began to make ready for sending the May- 
flower home. She had been lying at anchor close by 
the shore, giving shelter to them as were yet without 
homes, and affording a timely place of refuge when the 
Common House was partly burned ; but our fathers had 




decided that she could no longer be kept idle. It was 
much like breaking the last ties which bound us to 
the old homes in England, when the time had been 
set for her to go back. 

Sarah and I could have no part in making the May- 
flower ready for sailing, since we were only two girls 
who were of no service or aid; but we watched the 



THE "MAYFLOWER" LEAVES PORT 55 

sailors as they came and went from the shore, wishing, 
oh so fervently! that we and those we loved might re- 
main in the vessel which had brought us so safely 
across the wide ocean. 

During such time as we were forced to remain on 
board of her because of having no other place of shelter, 
she seemed all too small for our comfort, and we re- 
joiced at being able to leave her; but when it was 
known that she was going back to our old homes, 
where were all our friends, save those who had come 
to this new world with us, it was much like starting 
anew. 

Sarah and I stood with our arms around each other 
as she sailed out of the harbor, while all the people 
were gathered on the shore to wish her a safe voyage, 
and I know that my cheeks were wet with tears as I 
saw her disappearing in the east, leaving us behind. 

That night father prayed most fervently for all on 
board, that they might have a safe and speedy passage, 
and it was to me as I if had parted at the mouth of the 
grave with some one who was very dear to me. 

Then were we indeed alone amid the huge trees, 
surrounded by wild beasts and savage Indians, and 
the sickness was yet so great among us, that I wondered 
if God had really forgotten that we had come to this 
new world in order to worship him as we had been 
commanded ? 



56 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



SETTING THE TABLE 




A Wooden Trencher B 



I often ask myself what you of Scrooby would say 
could you see us at dinner. We have no table, and 

boards are very scarce 
and high in price here in 
this new village of ours, 
therefore father saved 
carefully the top of one 
of our packing boxes, while nearly all in the settlement 
did much the same, and these we call table boards. 
When it is time to serve the meal, mother and I 
lay this board across two short logs; but we cover it 
with the linen brought from the old home, and none in 
the plantation, not even the governor himself, has 
better, as you well know. 

I would we had 
more dishes ; but 
they are costly, as - 
even you at home 
know. Yet our 
table looks very 
inviting when it is 
spread for a feast^ 
Brewster comes. 
We have three trencher bowls, and another larger 




say 



Vessels of Gourds 

at such times 



as Elder 



SETTING THE TABLE 



57 




one in which all the food is placed. Then, in addition 
to the wooden cups we brought from home, are many 
vessels of gourds that we have raised in the garden, 
and father has fashioned a mold for making spoons, so 
that now our pewter ware, when grown old with ser- 
vice, can be melted down into spoons until we have a 
goodly abundance of them. 

It is said, although I have not myself seen it,' 
that a table implement called a fork, is in the pos- 
session of Master Brewster, having been brought 
over from England. It is of iron, having two sharp 
points made to hold the food. 

I cannot understand why any should need such a 
tool while they have their own cleanly fingers, and 
napkins of linen on which to wipe them. Perhaps 



58 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

Master Brewster was right when he said that we who 
are come into this new world for the single reason of 
worshiping God as we please, are too much bound 
up in the vanities of life, and father says he knows 
of no more vain thing than an iron tool with which 
to hold one's food. 

I have seen at Master Bradford's home two bottles 
made of glass, and they are exceedingly beautiful; 
but so frail that I should scarce dare wash them, for 
it would be a great disaster to break so valuable a 
vessel. 

WHAT AND HOW WE EAT 

And now, perhaps, you ask what we have to eat 
when the table is spread ? Well, first, there is a pud- 
ding of Indian corn, or Turkic wheat, and this we have 
in the morning, at noon, and at night, save when there 
may be a scarcity of corn. For meats, now that our 
people are acquainted with the paths through the woods, 
we have in season plenty of deer meat, or the flesh of 
bears and of wild fowl, such as turkeys, ducks, and 
pigeons. Of course there are lobsters in abundance, and 
only those less thrifty people who do not put by store 
sufficient for the morrow, live on such food as that. 

Every Saturday we have a feast of codfish, whether 
alone or if there be company, and Elder Brewster has 



WHAT AND HOW WE EAT 



59 



already spoken to us in meeting upon the vanity of 
believing it is necessary that we garnish our table with 
no less a fish than cod on Saturdays, saying it is a sign 
that our hearts are not yet sufficiently humble. 

My father is over careful of me, Mistress White 
claims, because he allows that I be seated at the table 
with himself and my mother when they eat, instead 




of being obliged to stand, as do other children in the 
village when their elders are at meals. Poor Mis- 
tress White fears that I am pampered because of be- 
ing an only child; but for my own part I cannot see 
how I do less reverence to my parents by sitting when 
eating, than by standing throughout a long feast when 
one's legs grow weary, as did mine the last time we 
were invited to dine with Elder Brewster. 



6o 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



Of course we have no chairs; but the short lengths 
of tree trunks which father has cut to serve as stools 
are most comfortable, even though it be impossible to 
do other than sit upright on them, and very often, if 

one grows forgetful, 
as did Captain 
Standish at Master 
Brewster's home a 
short time ago, there 
is danger of losing 
the stool. Our 
mighty soldier being 
thus careless, tum- 
bled backward, so 
surprised that he forgot to let go his trencher bowl, 
thereby plentifully besmearing himself with hot hasty 
pudding that he had been served with in great 
abundance. 

TABLE RULES 




Mother has written down some rules for me at table, 
so that I may do credit to my bringing up when at the 
house of a friend, and these I am copying for you, to 
the end that it shall be seen I am not so pampered by 
being allowed to sit while eating, as to forget what 
belongs to good breeding: 



TABLE RULES 6i 

"Never sit down at the table till asked, and after 
the blessing. 

"Ask for nothing; tarry till it be offered thee. Speak 
not. 

"Bite not thy bread, but break it. 

"Take salt only with a clean knife. Dip not the 
meat in the same. 

"Hold not thy knife upright, but sloping, and lay 
it down at the right hand of the plate with blade on 
plate. 

"Look not earnestly at any other that is eating. 

"When moderately satisfied, leave the table. 

"Sing not, hum not, wriggle not." 

You may see that if I follow these rules carefully, 
I shall not bring shame upon my mother. It is only 
when the large wooden bowl, which is called the 
voider, is placed on the table that I am most 
awkward, and mother insisted on my learning this 
poem, which contains many wholesome rules for 
behavior: 

" When the meat is taken quite away, 
And voiders in your presence laid, 
Put you your trencher in the same 
And all the crumbs which you have made. 
Take you with your napkin and knife, 
The crumbs that are before thee ; 
In the voider a napkin leave, 
For it is a courtesy." 



62 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



WHEN THE PILGRIM GOES ABROAD 



If there be a desire to travel, we must either walk, 
or sail in boats, and one may not go far on foot in either 

direction along the 
coast, without com- 
ing upon streams or 
brooks over which 
has been felled a 
tree to serve as 
bridge. Now father 
thinks a bridge of 
that kind is all that 
may be necessary, 
because of his foot- 
ing being so sure; 
but you know that 
women are more timid, and it is difficult to walk 
above the rushing streams on so slight a support as 
a round log. 

Because of having made our plantation near to a 
deserted Indian village, there were paths through the 
woods in every direction, and these we used whenever 
making an excursion in search of bay berry plums, or 
herbs of any kind. 

The Indians, after Squanto had made us friendly 




MAKING A DUGOUT 



63 



with the great chief Massasoit, were ready to sell us 
boats, and queer sorts of ships would they seem in 
your eyes. One kind is made of the bark taken from 
the birch tree in great sheets, sewn together with sinews 
of deer, and besmeared with fat from the pitch pine. 



that would carry with 
so light that I myself 
no man may use one of 



I have seen one 
safety four people, 
could lift it, but 
these bark vessels 
without first hav- 
ing been taught 
how to sail it, for 
they are so like a 
feather on the 
water that the 
slightest move- 
ment oversets 
them. 

For my part, 

I feel more secure in what our people call a dugout , which 
is made with much labor by the Indians, and is, as 
Captain Standish says in truth, "a most unwieldy ship." 




MAKING A DUGOUT 



The Indians hew down a huge pine tree, and when 
I say it is done without the use of axes, then you will 



64 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

wonder how the timber can be felled. Well, when 
one of the savages desires to build him a boat, he se- 
lects the tree from which it is to be made, and builds 
a little fire around the trunk close to the ground. As 





fast as the flames char the wood, he scrapes it away 
with a sharp rock, or a thick seashell, and thus keeps 
scraping the burning wood until the tree falls. 

Then he cuts off ten or twelve feet in length by burn- 
ing and scraping exactly as before, and this is the 



GOVERNOR CARVER'S DEATH 65 

length of the boat he would build; but it is simply a 
solid log. Now he sets about building a fire along 
the top, charring the wood and scraping it away until, 
after what must surely be a wonderful amount of 
labor, he has hollowed out that huge log into a shell. 
The bark is then stripped from the outside, and the 
ends fashioned by burning until they are smooth, and 
the ship is completed. 

GOVERNOR carver's DEATH 

It was in April, when, because the weather had grown 
so warm it seemed much as if we had been restored to 
the favor of God, that a great calamity came upon 
us of Plymouth, and my father says it is impossi- 
ble for us to understand how sore a stroke it was to 
our people who count on making a home in this new 
world. 

Governor Carver had hoped to make such a garden 
as should be a model for all in the village, and to that 
end he worked exceedingly hard, so father says. He- 
was planting and hoeing from early light until it was 
no longer possible to see what he was about because 
of the coming of night. Already many of the plants, 
concerning which Samoset and Squanto had told us, 
were showing through the ground, until, as Captain 
Standish said, "all the others should take pattern by 

MARY OF PLYMOUTH 5 



66 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

him that we might not taste again of the bitterness of 
famine." 

The day had been very warm, and the governor 
was working exceeding hard, when suddenly he com- 
plained of a pain in his head. He strove in vain to 
continue the labor; but Mistress Carver insisted that 
he come into the house and lie down on a bear skin, 
which Captain Standish had made into a bed-cover, 
and this he did. 

Master Bradford and my father were summoned in 
the hope that it might be possible to give him some 
relief; but they could do no more than pray for his 
recovery, and even while they were pleading most 
fervently with God, the poor man lost all knowledge 
of himself, nor did he speak again. 

During three days every one prayed; no trees were 
hewn lest the noise disturb him, and all the women in 
the village gathered in or around the house that they 
might be ready in case their services were needed. 
It was as if we were having three Sabbaths at once. 
Then he died, without having come to know that he 
was ill, and we were more heartsick and lonely even 
than when the Mayflower sailed away. 

Those among us who should know best, and my 
father is one of the number, say that all prayers either 
over or for the dead, are not only superstitions and 
vain, but are also idolatry, and against the teachings 



WILLIAM BRADFORD CHOSEN GOVERNOR 67 

of the Bible. Therefore Governor Carver was laid 
in the grave without a word or sound, other than the 
sobs of the women and children, who mourned so 
sorely. 

Those who had muskets discharged them as a part- 
ing salute to him who had been our governor, and we 
walked sorrowfully and in silence away, little dreaming 
that within three short weeks Mistress Carver would 
be buried near her husband's last resting place in this 
world. 

WILLIAM BRADFORD CHOSEN GOVERNOR 

Two days after we had said farewell to Master Car- 
ver, Master William Bradford was chosen governor; 
but because he was yet stricken with the sickness, 
Master Isaac Allerton was named as his assistant. 

I have no doubt that Hannah will be surprised at 
knowing that ''little Willie Bradford," as I have heard 
the old women call him, has become our governor. 
When a boy, he lived in Scrooby, and came, rather* 
from curiosity than a desire for the truth, among our 
people, who were called Separatists, or Non-Con- 
formists, because they would not conform, or agree, 
to King James' orders regarding their religion. 

William Bradford came to believe, after attending 
the meetings in Elder Brewster's house, that ours was 



68 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

the true religion, and when our people made up their 
minds to go into Holland where they might be allowed 
to worship God as they chose, Master Bradford went 
with them. There he learned the trade of a weaver 
of cloth ; but later he apprenticed himself to a printer. 

Now he is become the foremost man of all our com- 
pany, because of being the governor, and of a truth 
has he been a very present help to us in our time of 
trouble. 

FARMING IN PLYMOUTH 

I wish you might have seen how different to that 
which is the custom in Scrooby, was our farming done 
on the first season after we came ashore from the May- 
flower. Because of having no working cattle with 
which to plough, the men were forced to dig up the 
ground with spades, and weary labor it was. Those 
of our people who were well enough to remain in the 
field, planted nearly twenty-six acres, six of which were 
sown with barley and peas, while the remainder was 
given over to Indian corn. 

Squanto showed us how this last should be done, 
and, strange as it may seem to you in England, he 
used fish with which to enrich the land, putting three 
small ones in each hill. 

You must know that all of us children, and the 



FARMING IN PLYMOUTH 



69 



women, work at the planting of this corn, for it is the 
only kind of food to be had which can be kept through- 
out the year without danger of being spoiled, and when 
one grows weary with the task, it is only needed to 
bring to mind our 
hunger when we 
first came ashore. 

Perhaps you 
may wonder where 
we got so much of 
the corn for seed. 
It has all come 
from the Indians 
in one way or an- 
other. Some of it 
Squanto brought 
from Massasoit's 
people ; but a 
goodly portion has been found on the graves, of which 
there are very many near our village. 

As to planting barley and peas, Squanto knew noth- 
ing; therefore the work was done somewhat as it would 
have been done at home, except that the land was en- 
cumbered with rocks and trees, and we were much per- 
plexed by lack of tools. 

The seed was finally put into the ground, but even 
when the task had been performed to the best of our 




70 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

ability, it was an odd looking farm to those who had 
seen the fair fields of England. Large rocks stood here 
and there, while many stumps of trees yet remained, for 
our fathers had not been able to clear the land entirely. 
We shall have much work at harvest, in gathering the 
crops from amid all these unsightly things. 

WAYS OF COOKING INDIAN CORN 

I must tell you of a way to cook this Indian corn 
which Squanto showed to Captain Standish, and now 
we have it in all the houses, when we are so fortunate 
as to have a supply of the wheat in our possession. 

It is poured into the hot ashes of the fireplace, and 
allowed to remain there until every single wheat kernel 
has been roasted brovm. Then it is sifted out of the 
ashes, beaten into a powder Hke meal, and mixed with 
snow in the winter, or water in the summer. Three 
spoonfuls a day is enough for a man who is on the 
march, or at work, so Captain Standish says, and we 
children are given only two thirds as much. 

Mother says it is especially of value because little 
labor is needed to prepare it; but neither Sarah nor I 
take kindly to the powder. 

The Indians also steep the corn in hot water twelve 
hours before pounding it into a kind of coarse meal, 
when they make if into a pudding much as you would 



WAYS OF COOKING INDIAN CORN 71 

in Scrooby; but mother likes not the taste after it has 
been thus cooked before being pounded, thinking much 
of the fine flavor has been taken from it. 

Sometimes we make a sweet pudding by mixing 
it with molasses and boiling it in a bag. It will keep 
thus for many days, and I once heard Captain Stan- 
dish say that there were as many sweet puddings made 
in Plymouth every day as there were housewives. 

Next fall we shall have bread made of barley and 
Indian corn meal, so father says, and I am hoping most 
fervently that he may not be mistaken, for both Sarah 
and I are heartily tired of nookick, and of sweet 
pudding, which is not very sweet because we have need 
to guard carefully our small store of molasses. 

We girls often promise ourselves a great feast when 
a vessel comes out from England bringing butter, for 
we have had none that could be eaten since the first 
two weeks of the voy- 
age in the Mayflower. 

Squanto often tells 
us of a kind of vege- 
table, or fruit, I am 
not certain which, 
that grows in this country, and is called a pumpkin. 
It must be very fine, if one may judge by his praise of 
it, and we are looking forward to the time when it 
shall be possible to know for ourselves. 




72 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



THE WEDDING 

And now I am to tell you of a marriage in Ply- 
mouth which deeply concerned Sarah and me. You 
may be certain that we made great account of it, 
although Master Bradford warned us against setting 
our hearts on the wicked customs of England. 

I had hoped Elder Brewster would marry the couple, 
for Sarah and I were deeply interested in them, having 
seen much of the love-making while we were on board 
the Mayflower. 

If the bride and groom had been in England, it would 




MAKING IMAPLE SUGAR 



73 



have been a time of feasting; but our people here shun 
such show, therefore did we lose much of merrymaking. 
Although the bride and groom went to Elder Brew- 
ster's house, which has served us as a place for religious 
meetings, it was Governor Bradford who listened to 
their vows and declared them to be man and wife, 
and in less than half an hour the newly-made husband 
was working in the field, while the wife was making 
sugar. 

MAKING MAPLE SUGAR 



Yes, we have sugar in plenty now, and, strange as 
it may seem, it comes from the trees. It was Squanto, 
that true friend of 
ours, who showed 
us how to take it 
from the maples, of 
which there are 
scores and scores 
growing everywhere 
around us. 

To get it one has 
only to make a hole 
in a maple tree, 
and put therein a 
small wooden spigot shaped like a spout, and straight- 




74 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

way, when the first warm weather comes in the spring, 
the sap of the tree, mounting from the roots to the 
branches, will run out of the hole through the spout 
into whatsoever vessels we place beneath. 

After that we boil it in kettles until it becomes thick 
like molasses, or yet more, until it is real sugar, after 
having been poured in pans of birch-bark to cool. It 
has a certain flavor such as is not to be found in the 
sugar of England; but answers our purpose so well 
that it can be used to sweeten the meal made from 
the corn, or eaten as a dainty. 

DECORATING THE INSIDE OF THE HOUSE 

You must know that our house is not now as rough 
on the inside as it would appear from what I first 
wrote. Father has saved the skins of all the animals 
he has caught, and prepared them in the same way as 
do the Indians, which makes the fleshy side look hke 
fine leather. These we have hung on the walls, and 
they not only serve to keep out the wind, but are really 
beautiful. With the rough logs and the chinking 
of clay hidden from view, it is easy to fancy that ours 
is a real house, such as would be found in England. 

We have many fox skins, for father has shot large 
numbers of foxes, and in what seems to me a curious 
fashion. He saves all the fishes' heads that can be 



DECORATING THE INSIDE OF THE HOUSE 75 



come at, and on moonlight nights throws them among 
the trees, where the foxes, getting the scent, give him a 
fair opportunity for shooting. 

Once he killed four in less than two hours, and we 
have hung them in that corner of the kitchen which 
we call mother's. Thus it is that she can sit leaning 
her shoulders against the warm fur, through which 
the wind cannot come. 

There is no need for me to tell you that we have 
more wolf skins than any other kind, for our people 
find it necessary to kill such animals in order to save 
their own lives. One night before all the snow had 
melted from the ground, Degory Priest was coming 
through the forest after attending to his traps, and 
was followed by five hungry wolves, who kept close at 
his heels, and would 
have eaten the poor 
man but for his in- 
dustry in swinging 
a long pole that 
he carried to help 
himself across the 
streams. 

Fortunately for Degory Priest, Captain Standish 
heard his outcries while he was yet a long distance 
from the village, and went out with three armed men 
to give him aid. 




76 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



TRAPPING WOLVES AND BAGGING PIGEONS 



Our fathers dig deep pits, which are covered with 
light brushwood, in such portions of the forest as the 
wolves are most plenty, and many a one has fallen 
therein, being held prisoner until some of the people 
can kill him by means of axes fastened to long poles. 

Father has built 
many traps of logs; 
but I cannot de- 
scribe how because 
of never having seen 
one. 

Thomas Williams 
killed seven wolves 
in four days by tying 
four or five mack- 

Wolf Head Decoration on the Meeting-House ercl hooks tOSCthcr 

covering them with fat, and leaving them exposed 
where the ravening creatures could get at them. 

Twice before the snow was melted, the men of the 
village had what they called a ''wolf-drive," when all 
made a ring around a certain portion of the forest 
where the animals lurked, and, by walking toward a 
given center, drove the creatures together where they 
could be shot or killed with axes. 




ELDER BREWSTER 77 

Sarah and I do not dare venture very far from the 
village because of the ferocious animals, and if the 
time ever comes when we are no longer in deadly fear 
of being carried away and eaten by the dreadful crea- 
tures, this new world of ours will seem more like a 
real home. 

I wish it might be possible for you to see the flocks 
and flocks of pigeons which come here when the weather 
grows warm. It is as if they shut out the light of the 
sun, so great are the numbers, and father says that 
again and again do they break down the branches of 
the trees, when so many try to roost in one place. Any 
person who so chooses may go out in the night after 
the pigeons have gone to sleep, and gather as many bags 
full as he can carry, so stupid are the birds in the dark, 
and even when they are not the most plentiful, we can 
buy them at the rate of one penny for twelve. 

ELDER BREWSTER 

I must tell you that there is being made a stout fort 
where we can all go in case any wicked savages should 
come against us, and when that has been finished, we 
shall have a real meeting-house, for one is to be put 
up inside the walls. 

Mother says she is certain Mistress Brewster will 
be relieved, for now we meet each Sabbath Day at her 



78 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

home. It must be a real hardship for her when Elder 
Brewster preaches an unusually long sermon, for many 
a time have the pine knots been lighted before he had 
come to an end, and, of course, the evening meal could 
not be cooked until we who had come to meeting had 
gone to our homes. 

Father has told me that Elder Brewster was a post- 
master of Scrooby when he first' knew him; that his 
belief in our faith was so strong as to make him one of 
the Non-Conformists, and so earnestly did he strive to 
perform whatsoever he believed the Lord had for him 
to do, that his was the house in Scrooby where our 
people listened to the expounding of the word of 
God. 

When he, with the others of our friends, went to 
Leyden, Master Brewster was chosen as assistant to 
our preacher Robinson, and was made an elder. 

It is not seemly that a child so young as I should 
speak even in praise of what my elders have done ; but 
surely a girl can realize when a man is watchful for the 
comfort of others, heeding not his own troubles or 
pains, so that those around him may be soothed, and, 
next to Captain Standish, Elder Brewster was the one 
to whom we children could go for advice or assistance. 

When the sickness was upon us, he, hardly able to 
be out of his bed, ministered in turn to those who were 
dying, and to us who were nigh to starvation, in as 



THE VISIT TO MASSASOIT 



79 



kindly, fatherly a manner as when he had sufficient of 
the goods of this world to make himself comfortable 
both in body and 'mind. 



THE VISIT TO MASSASOIT 



That which gave mother and me a great fright was 
Governor Bradford's command that Edward Winslow 
and Master Hopkins visit the village of the Indian 
chief, Massasoit, in order to carry as presents from 
our settlement of Plymouth a suit of English clothing, 
a horseman's coat 
of red cotton, and 
three pewter dishes. 

It seemed to my 
mother and me as 
though it was much 
like going to certain 
death; but Squanto, 
who was to act as 
guide, claimed that 
no harm could come 
to them. I trust not these savages, who look so cruel, 
and cried heartily when our people set out; but God al- 
lowed them to return in safety, although they were 
not overly well pleased with the visit. 

Massasoit treated them in the most friendly man- 




8o 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



ner, and seemed to be well pleased with the gifts; but 
he set before them only the very smallest quantity of 
parched corn, no more than two spoonfuls to each one, and 
failed to offer anything else when that had been eaten. 
Except that they were hungry during all the five 
days of the stay, the savages treated them kindly, and 
my father believes that we need have no fear this tribe 
will do us any harm; but there are other Indians in 
the land who may be tempted to work mischief. 

KEEPING THE SABBATH HOLY 

As soon as the fields had been planted, it was de- 
cided that six men of the company should spend all 




MAKING CLAPBOARDS 8i 

their time at fishing, to the end that we might lay up a 
store of sea food for the coming winter; therefore they 
go out in the shallop every day, except the Sabbath, 
which begins at three o'clock on Saturday afternoon. 
At that time we children gather in one house or another, 
but mostly at Elder Brewster's, where we study the 
Bible, or hsten to lectures by Governor Bradford. 

We are not allowed to walk around the village after 
the Bible lessons are finished, but must run directly 
home, and remain there until we go to meeting in 
Elder Brewster's house next morning. 

Captain Standish says he does not favor such long 
Sabbaths, while we have so much work on hand; but 
he is not listened to on such matters, for his duty in 
the village is only that of a military leader. 

MAKING CLAPBOARDS 

It is true indeed that there is very much work to he 
done. First comes the planting and tending of the 
crops. Then there is the fishing and the hunting that 
we may have meat. Lastly is the making of clapboards, 
which task was begun soon after the seed had been put 
in the ground, for Governor Bradford believed we 
should make enough with which to load the first vessel 
that came to us from England. 

It was all we could do, just then, in the way of get- 

MARY OF PLYMOUTH 6 



82 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

ting together that which might be sold to the people in 
the old country, and father said the men of Plymouth 
must be earning money in some other way than by 
trying to gather furs, for already were the animals 
growing more timid and scarce. 

It is not easy work, this clapboard-making, and I 
cannot wonder that the men complain at being forced 
to continue it day after day. First an oak tree is cut 
by saws into the length necessary for clapboards, which, 
so father tells me, should be about four feet long. 
Then a tool called a ''frow" is used to split the trunk 
of the tree into slabs, or clapboards, making them thin 
at one edge and half an Inch or more thick at the other. 

This "frow" is shaped some- 
thing like a butcher's cleaver, 
and a wooden mallet is 

llWlli|aii!l' ^l"Ni|IM!:.:^.Ni nilllllllntljj , . . . 

' used to drive it into the log 

until the splint is forced off. 

Our people made many clapboards during the time 
between planting and harvest, so that we had enormous 
stacks under the trees ready to put on board the first 
vessel that should sail for England. 



COOKING PUMPKINS 

When the first pumpkins were ripe, Squanto showed 
us how to cook them, and most of us find the fruit an 



A NEW OVEN 8s 

agreeable change from sweet puddings, parched corn, 
and fish. 

This is the way that Squanto cooked pumpkins. 
First he was careful to find one that was wholly ripe. 
In the top of the yellow globe he cut a small hole 
through which it was possible for him to take out the 
seeds, of which there are many. Then the whole pump- 
kin was put into the iron oven and baked until the pulp 
on the inside was soft, after which the shell could be 
broken open, and the meat of the fruit eaten with the 
sugar which we get from the trees. 

Mistress Bradford invented the plan of mixing the 
baked pumpkin pulp with meal of the Indian corn, and 
made of the whole a queer looking bread, which some 
like exceeding well, but father says he is forced to 
shut his eyes while eating it. 

A NEW OVEN 

Perhaps I have not told you how we happen to have 
an oven, when there is only the big fireplace in which 
to cook our food. Mistress White and Mistress Tilley 
each brought from Leyden, in Holland, what some 
people call ''roasting kilchens," and you can think 
of nothing more convenient. The oven or kitchen is 
made of thin iron like unto a box, the front of which 
is open, and the back rounded as is a log. It is near 



84 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

to a yard long, and stands so high as to take all the 
heat from the fire which would otherwise be thrown 
out into the room. 

In this oven we put our bread, pumpkins, or meat 

set it in front of, and close against, a roaring fire. The 

,111^ I HI — back, or rounded part 

^^J^^^^S ^g/g^^\ is then heaped high with 

hot ashes or live embers, 

and that which is inside 

must of a necessity be 

.^^^■IIII^H^^^^^^^^P cooked. At the very 

~=^=^^^^^^^^^^^ top of the oven is a 

~^^^^ small door, which can 

be opened for the cook to look inside, and one may see 

just how the food is getting on, without disturbing the 

embers that have been heaped against the outer portion. 

We often borrow of Mistress Tilley her oven, and 

father has promised to send by the first ship that comes 

to this harbor, for one that shall be our very own. 

When it arrives, I am certain mother will be very glad, 

for there is no kitchen article which can save so much 

labor for the housewife. 

MAKING SPOONS AND DISHES 

I wish you might see how greatly I added to our 
store of spoons during the first summer we were here 



MAKING SPOONS AND DISHES 



85 




in Plymouth. Sarah and I gathered from the shore 
elam shells that had been washed clean and white by the 
sea, and Squanto cut many smooth sticks, with a cleft 
in one end so that they 
might be pushed firmly 
on the shell, thus mak- 
ing a most beautiful 
spoon. 

Sarah says that they 
are most to her liking, because it is not necessary to 
spend very much time each week polishing them, as 
we are forced to do with the pewter spoons. 

Some day, after we own cows, we can use the 

large, flat clam shells with which to skim milk, and 

when we make our own butter and cheese, we shall 

be rich indeed. 

After the pumpkins ripened, and when the gourds 

in the Indian village 
were hardened, we 
added to our store 
of bowls and cups 
until the kitchen was 
much the same as 
littered with them, and all formed of the pumpkin and 
gourd shells. 

Out of the gourd shells we made what were really 
miost serviceable dippers, and even bottles, while in 




86 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 




the pumpkin shell dishes 
we kept much of our 
supply of Indian corn. 

Captain Standish gave 
me two of the most beau- 
tiful turkey wings, to be 
used as brushes; but they 
are so fine that mother 
has them hung on the 
wall as ornaments, and 
we sweep the hearth with 
smaller and less perfect 
wings from the birds or 
turkeys father has brought 
home. 

This no doubt seems to 
you of Scrooby a queer 
way of keeping house . 



THE FORT AND MEETING-HOUSE 



That which Captain Standish calls a fort is very 
much like our homes, or the Common House, except 
that it is larger, and has small, square openings high 
up on the walls to serve both as windows and places 
through which our people can shoot at an enemy, 
if any come against us. 



THE FORT AND MEETING-HOUSE 87 

Surely there are none in this new world who should 
wish us harm, and yet my father says that we have 
need to guard ourselves carefully, because Squanto 
and Samoset have both insisted that a tribe of savages 
who call themselves Narragansetts, and who live quite a 
long distance away, may seek to drive us from the 
land. 

This fort, the logs of which are sunken so deeply 
into the earth that they cannot easily be overthrown, 
has been built on the highest land within the settle- 
ment, and extending from it in such a manner as to 
make it a corner of the enclosure, is a fence of logs, 
which Captain Standish calls a palisade, built to form 
a square. The fence is made like the sides of our 
houses ; but the logs rise higher above the surface than 
the head of the tallest man. 

There are two gates in the palisade, one on the side 
nearest the fort, with the other directly opposite, and 
these can be fastened with heavy logs on the inside. 
All the people have been told that at the first signal 
of danger, they must flee without loss of time inside 
the fence of logs, after which the gates will be barred, 
and no person may go on the outside without per- 
mission from Captain Standish. 

The six cannon, which I told you had been mounted 
on a platform when we first began to build the houses, 
have been taken to the top of the fort, and from there. 



88 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



SO Captain Standish says, we can hold in check a regu- 
lar army of Indians; but God forbid that anything of 
the kind should be necessary after we have come to 
this new world desiring peace, and with honest inten- 
tions toward all men. 

Because it is not reasonable to suppose that any 
human being could wish to work us harm, Sarah and 




I look upon that which is called a fort, rather as a meet- 
ing-house than a place of defence, and such it really 
looks to be, for the floor is covered with seats made of 
puncheon planks placed on short lengths of logs, while 
at one end is a desk for the preacher built in much the 
same fashion as are the seats. 



THE HARVEST FESTIVAL 89 

Here, also, so Governor Bradford has promised, we 
children shall have a school as soon as a teacher can 
be persuaded to come over from England. As it is 
now, our parents teach us at home, and father believes 
I can even now write as well as if I had been all this 
while at school in Scrooby. With both a meeting-house 
and a school, it will seem as if we had indeed built a 
town in this vast wilderness. 

THE HARVEST FESTIVAL 

You shall now hear about our harvest festival, which 
Governor Bradford declared should be called a day 
of thanksgiving because the Lord had been good to 
us in permitting of our getting from the earth, the 
sea, and the forest, such a supply of food as gave 
us to believe that never more would famine visit 
Plymouth. 

True it is the crop of peas had failed, but the barley, 
so father said, was fairly good, while the Indian corn 
grew in abundance. Our people had taken a great 
many fish, and the hunters found in the forest a goodly 
supply of birds and animals, Already were there 
seven houses built, without counting the Common 
House that had been repaired soon after it was injured 
by fire, and the fort with its palisade. 

As soon as the harvest was over, the Governor sent 



90 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



four men out after such fowls and animals as might 
be taken, and in two days they killed as many as would 
serve to provide all the people of Plymouth with meat 
for at least a full week. 




There were wild ducks in greatest number, together 
with turkeys, and small birds like unto pheasants. 
No less than twenty deer were killed, and it was well we 
provided such a bountiful supply for the thanksgiving 
festival, because on the day before the one appointed, 
Massasoit, with ninety of his men, came to Plymouth, 
bringing as gifts five deer, and it seemed as if the 
Indians did nothing more than eat continuously. 
• Instead of giving thanks on one particular day, as 



HOW TO PLAY STOOLBALL 91 

Governor Bradford had ordered, three days were 
spent in such festivities as we had not seen since leaving 
our homes in England. 

The deer and the big turkeys were roasted over 
fires built in the open air, and we had corn and barley 
bread, baked pumpkins, clams ,^ lobsters, and fish until 
one was wearied by the sight of so much food. 

Nor was eating the only amusement during this 
thanksgiving time, for we played at games much as 
we would have done in Scrooby. 

There was running, jumping, and leaping by the 
men, stoolball for the boys, and a wolf hunt for 
those soldiers under Captain Standish who were not 
content with small sports. 

HOW TO PLAY STOOLBALL 

I know not if my friend Hannah has seen the 
game of stoolball as it is played in our village of Ply- 
mouth, because those among us who take part in it 
use no sticks nor bats, but strike the ball only with their 
hands. Of course we have no real stools here as yet, 
because of the labor necessary to make them, when a 
block of wood serves equally well on which to sit; but 
the lads who play the game take a short piece of pun- 
cheon board, and, boring three holes in it, put therein 
sticks to serve as legs. 



92 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



These they place upon the ground behind them, 
and he who throws the ball strives to hit the stool 
rather than the player, who is allowed only to use his 
hands in warding it off. Whosesoever stool has been 
hit must himself take the ball, throwing it, and con- 
tinuing at such ser- 
vice until he suc- 
ceeds in striking 
another's stool. 

Sarah and I had 
believed that at 
this festival time, 
we would gather 
in the new meet- 
ing-house to praise 
the Lord for his wondrous goodness; but Master Brad- 
ford believed it would not be seemly to mix religious 
services with worldly sports, therefore it was not un- 
til the next Sabbath Day that we heard lessons of the 
Bible explained from that reading desk built of pun- 
cheons and short lengths of tree trunks. 

Perhaps it was because Governor Bradford allowed 
the men and boys to play at games during the time of 
thanksgiving, that they came to believe such sports 
would be permitted on Christmas, even though the 
elders of our colony had decided no attention should be 
paid to the day because of its being a Pagan festivity. 




ON CHRISTMAS DAY 93 



ON CHRISTMAS DAY 

On the morning of the first Christmas after our 
houses had been built, many of the men and boys, 
when called upon to go out to work for the common 
good, as had been the custom every week day during 
the year, declared that they did not believe it right to 
labor at the time when it was said Christ had been 
born. Whereupon Governor Bradford, after telling 
them that it was but a heathenish festival instead 
of really being the birthday of our Savior, announced 
that if it was against their consciences, he would leave 
them alone until they were better informed regarding 
the matter. 

Then he, with those who were ready to obey the 
rules, went to their work; but on coming back at noon, 
he found those who did not believe it seemly to labor 
on Christmas day, at play in the street, some throwing 
bars, and others at stoolball. Without delay the 
governor seized the balls and the bars, carrying them 
into the fort, at the same time declaring that it was 
against his conscience for some to play while others 
worked. This, as you may suppose, brought the 
merrymaking to an end. 

For my part I enjoyed the Christmas festivities as 
we held them at Scrooby, and cannot understand why, 



94 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



simply because certain heathen people turned the day 
into a time for play and rejoicing, we should not make 
merry after the custom of those in England. 



I hardly know how to set about telling you of that 
time when the first ship came into our harbor. It 
was not long after the day of thanksgiving when, early 
one morning, even before any of our people had begun 
work, some person cried out that a vessel was in sight. 

It had been nearly a year since we landed on the 
shores of the new world, and in all that time we had 
seen no white people outside of our own company. 
Therefore you can fancy how excited we all were. Even 
Governor Bradford himself found it difficult to walk 
slowly down to the shore, while Sarah and I ran with 




WHEN THE ''FORTUNE" ARRIVED 95 

frantic haste, as if fearing we might not be able to 
traverse the short distance before the vessel was come 
to anchor and her crew landed. 

If I should try to tell you how we felt on seeing this 
first vessel that had visited Plymouth, believing she 
had on board some of our friends who had been left 
behind when the Mayflower sailed, it would hardly be 
possible for me to write of anything else, so long would 
be the story. Therefore it is that I shall not try to 
describe how we stood at the water's edge, every man, 
woman and child in Plymouth, wrapped in furs until 
we must have looked like so many wild animals, for 
the day was exceeding cold and windy, watching every 
movement made by those on board the vessel until a 
boat, well laden with men and women, put off from 
her side. 

Then we shouted boisterously, for it was well nigh 
impossible to remain silent, and those who recognized 
familiar faces among the occupants of the shallop 
screamed a welcome to the new world, and to our town 
of Plymouth, until they were hoarse from shouting. 

The ship which had come was the Fortune, and she 
brought to us thirty-six of those who had been left be- 
hind at Leyden. During fully two days we of Ply- 
mouth did little more than give our entire attention to 
these welcome visitors, hearing from them news of 
those of our friends who were yet in Holland, and 



96 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

telling again and again the story of the sickness and the 
famine with which we had become acquainted soon 
after landing from the Mayflower. 

POSSIBILITY OF ANOTHER FAMINE 

When we were settled down, as one might say, and 
our visitors were at work building homes for themselves, 
I heard father and Master Brewster talking one even- 
ing about the addition to our number, and was sur- 
prised at learning, that while they rejoiced equally 
with us children at the coming of our friends, what 
might be in store for us in the future troubled them 
greatly. 

The Fortune had brought from England no more 
in the way of food than would suffice to feed the passen- 
gers during the voyage across the ocean, and the crew 
on her return. Therefore had we thirty-six mouths to 
feed during the long winter, more than had been reckon- 
ed on when we held our festival of thanksgiving. 

Until overhearing this conversation, I had not given 
a thought to anything save the pleasure which would 
be ours in having so many more friends around us ; but 
now, because Master Brewster and my father talked 
in so serious a strain, did I begin to understand that 
we might, before another summer had come, suffer 
for food even as we had during the winter just passed. 



POSSIBILITY OF ANOTHER FAMINE 



97 



And it was because of our people being so disturbed 
regarding the store of provisions, that the ship did 
not remain in the harbor as long as would have pleased 
us. Governor Bradford told the captain that he must 
set sail while there was yet food enough in the ship to 
feed his crew during the voyage home, since we of 
Plymouth could not give him any. 

The Fortune, however, did not go back empty. 
She was loaded full with the clapboards which our 
people had made during the summer, and, in addition, 
were two hogsheads filled with beaver and otter skins, 




the whole of the freight amounting in value, so I heard 
Captain Standish say, to not less than five hundred 
pounds sterling. 

We were saddened when the ship left the harbor; 
but not so much as on the day the Mayflower sailed 
away, for, having sent back in the Fortune goods of 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



98 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

value, there was fair promise she would speedily re- 
turn for more. 



ON SHORT ALLOWANCE 

When the Fortune had gone, the men of our settle- 
ment took an exact account of all the provisions in 
the common store, as well as of those belonging to the 
different families, and the whole was divided in just 
proportion among us every one. 

Then it was learned that we had no more in Ply- 
mouth to eat than would provide for our wants during 
six months, and since in that time there would not 
be another harvest, it was decided by the governor and 
the chief men of the village, that each person should 
be given a certain amount less than the appetite craved ; 
short allowance. Captain Standish called it. 

Sarah and I were faint at heart on learning of this 
decision, for it seemed as if during this winter we were 
to live again in the misery such as we had known the 
past season of cold and frost, when we hunted the 
leaves of the checker berry plant, and chewed the gum 
which gathers in little bunches on the spruce trees, 
to satisfy our hunger. 

Those who had come over in the Fortune to join us 
were, as can well be understood, grieved because of 
their putting us to such straits; it was a matter which 



A THREATENING MESSAGE 

could not be helped, and we of the 
Mayflower strove earnestly not to speak 
of the possible distress which might be 
ours, lest our friends so lately come 
might think we were reproaching them. 

A THREATENING MESSAGE 



99 



It was not many days after we had 
learned that we might be hungry before 
another harvest should come, when a 
savage, whom we had never before seen, 
came to Plymouth, asking for our chief. 
On being conducted to Governor Brad- 
ford, he delivered unto him a bundle 
of arfows which were tied together with 
a great snake skin. 

It so happened that Squanto was in 
the village, and, on being sent for, he 
explained to our people that the send- 
ing of the arrows tied in the snake skin 
was a threat, which meant that speed- 
ily those from whom it had come would 
make an attack upon us. He also de- 
clared that the messenger was from the 
nation of the Narragansetts, of whom 
I have already told you. 



loo MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

The governor consulted with the chief men of Ply- 
mouth as to what should be done, with the result that 
Squanto was instructed to tell the Narragansett mes- 
senger that if his people had rather have war than 
peace, they might begin as soon as pleased them, for 
we of Plymouth had done the Narragansetts no wrong, 
neither did we fear any tribe of savages. Then the 
snake skin was filled with bullets, as token that the 
Indians would not find us unprepared when they made 
an attack, and given to the messenger that he might 
carry it back to those who had sent him. 

That night, when mother mourned because it seemed 
certain war would soon be made upon us, father spoke 
lightly of the matter, as if it were something of no great 
importance. However, both Sarah and I took notice 
that from the hour the Narragansett messenger left 
Plymouth carrying the snake skin filled with bullets, 
there were two men stationed on top of the fort night 
and day, and a certain store of provisions taken 
inside, as if the food might be used there rather than 
in our homes. 

We knew nothing whatsoever about warfare, girls 
as we were, but yet had common sense enough to under- 
stand from such preparations, that our fathers were 
holding themselves ready, and expecting that an at- 
tack would be made by the savages within a very short 
time. > : 



PINE KNOTS AND CANDLES 



lOl 



PINE KNOTS AND CANDLES 



Perhaps you would like to know how we light our 
homes in the evening, since we have no tallow, for of 
course people who own neither hogs, sheep, cows nor 
oxen, do not have that which is needed for candles. 

Well, first, we find our candles among the trees, and 
of a truth the forest is of such extent that it would 
seem as if all the 
world might get an 
ample store of ma- 
terial to make light. 
We use knots from 
the pitch pine trees, 
or wood from the 
same tree split into 
thin sheets or sHces ; 
but the greatest 
trouble is that the 

wood is filled with a substance, which we at first thought 
was pitch, that boils out by reason of the heat of the 
flame, and drops on whatever may be beneath. 

Captain Standish has lately discovered, and truly he 
is a wonderful man for finding out hidden things, that 
the substance from the candle wood, as we call the 
pitch pine, is turpentine or tar, and now, if you please, 




I02 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

our people are preparing these things to be sent back 
to England for sale, with the hope that we shall there- 
by get sufficient money with which to purchase the 
animals we need so sorely. 

I would not have you understand that there are no 
real candles here in Plymouth, for when the Fortune 
came, her captain had a certain number of tallow 
candles which he sold; but they are such luxuries as 
can be afforded only on great occasions. Mother has 
even at this day, wrapped carefully in moss, two of 
them, for which father paid eight pence apiece, and 
she blamed him greatly for having spent so much 
money, at the same time declaring that they should 
not be used except upon some great event, such as 
when the evening meeting is held at our house. 

TALLOW FROM BUSHES 

Squanto has shown us how we may get, at only the 
price of so much labor, that which looks very like 
tallow, and of which mother has made many well- 
shaped candles. 

You must know that in this country there grows a 
bush which some call the tallow shrub; others claim 
it should be named the candle berry tree, while Cap- 
tain Standish insists it is the bayberry bush. 

This plant bears berries somewhat red, and speckled 




WICKS FOR THE CANDLES 103 

with white, as if you had thrown powdered clam shells 
on them. 

I gathered near to twelve quarts last week, and 
mother put them in a large 
pot filled with water, which 
she stands over the fire, for 
as yet we cannot boast of an 
iron backbar to the fire-place, 
on which heavy kettles may 
be hung with safety. 

After these berries have 
been cooked a certain time, that which looks like fat 
is stewed out of them, and floats on the top of the 
water. 

Mother skims it off into one of the four earthen 
vessels we brought with us from Scrooby, and when 
cold, it looks very much like tallow, save that it is 
of a greenish color. After being made into candles 
and burned, it gives off an odor which to some 
is unpleasant; but I think it very sweet to the 
nostrils. 

V^ICKS FOR THE CANDLES 

I suppose you are wondering how it is we get the 
wicks for the candles, save at the expense and trouble 
of bringing them from England. Well, you must 



I04 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 




know that there is a plant which 
grows here plentifully, called 
milkweed. It has a silken 
down like unto silver in color, 
and we children gather it in 
the late summer. 

It is spun coarsely into 
wicks, and some of the more 
careful housewives dip them 
into saltpetre to insure better 
burning. Do you remember 
that poem of Master Tusser's 
which we learned at Scrooby? 

Wife, make thine own candle, 

Spare penny to handle. 

Provide for thy tallow ere the frost cometh in, 

And make thine own candle ere winter begin. 

When candle-making time comes, I wish there were 
other children in this household besides me, for the 
work is hard and disagreeable, to say nothing of being 
very greasy, and I would gladly share it with sisters 
or brothers. 

Mother's candle-rods are small willow shoots, and 
because of not having kitchen furniture in plenty, 
she hangs the half-dipped wicks across that famous 
wooden tub which we brought with us in the May- 
flower. 



DIPPING THE CANDLES 105 



DIPPING THE CANDLES 

It is my task to hang six or eight of the milk- 
weed wicks on the rod, taking good care that they 
shall be straight, which is not easy to accomplish, 
for silvery and soft though the down is when first 
gathered, it twists harshly, and of course, as everyone 
knows, there can be no bends or kinks in a properly 
made candle. 

Mother dips perhaps eight of these wicks at a time 
into a pot of bayberry wax, and after they have been 
so treated six or eight times, they are of sufficient size, 
for our vegetable tallow sticks in greater mass than 
does that which comes from an animal. 

A famous candle-maker is my mother, and I have 
known her to make as many as one hundred and fifty 
in a single day. 

The candle box which your 
uncle gave us is of great 
convenience, for since it has 
on the inside a hollow for 
each candle, there is little 

danger that any will be broken, and, besides, we 
may put therein the half-burned candles, for we 
cannot afford to waste even the tiniest scraps of 
tallow. 




io6 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

Captain Standish has in his home candles made 
from bear's grease, and as wicks, dry marsh grass 
braided. 

When the second winter had begun, and the snow 
lay deep all around, save where our people had dug 
streets and paths, Sarah and I were forced, as a matter 
of course, to remain a goodly portion of the time with- 
in our homes. Those of the men who were not needed 
to hew huge trees into lengths convenient for burning, 
were hunting and setting traps, in the hope of adding 
to the store of provisions which was so scanty after it 
had been divided among those who came in the For- 
tune, and Sarah and I had little else to do than recall 
to mind that which had happened during the summer, 
when all the country was good to look upon instead of 
being imprisoned by the frost. 

WHEN JAMES RUNS AWAY 

We went back to the time when James Billington, 
son of John, caused us all such a fright by his way- 
ward behavior. 

Because James was not a favorite with any of us 
girls, being prone to tease us at every opportunity, 
and spending more of his time in mischief than in work, 
I must be careful how I speak of the lad, lest I fall into 
that sin which Elder Brewster warns us to guard 



WHEN JAMES RUNS AWAY 



107 



against: allowing one's feelings -to control the tongue, 
thereby speaking more harshly against another than 
is warranted by the facts. 

I must, however, set it down that James was not a 
favorite with any save his parents; but seemed ever 




watching for an opportunity to make trouble for others, 
and just before the harvest time did he succeed in 
throwing the entire village into a state of confusion and 
anxiety. 

On a certain afternoon, I cannot rightly recall the 
exact time, it was noted by Sarah and myself, that, 
contrary to his usual custom, James had not prowled 
around where we children were at work in the fields 
with the intent to perplex or annoy us, and we spoke 
of the fact as if it was an unusually pleasant incident, 
little dreaming of the trouble which was to follow. 



io8 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

That night, while father was reading from the Book, 
and explaining to us the more difficult passages, the 
mother of James came to our home, asking if we had 
seen her son. 

Even then but little heed was given to the fact that 
the boy had not returned for his share of the scanty 
supper; but mayhap an hour later every one in the 
settlement was summoned by the beating of the drum, 
and then did we learn that James Billington had dis- 
appeared. 

The first thought was that some of the evil-disposed 
savages had carried him away, and, acting upon the 
governor's orders, Captain Standish set off with eight 
men to hunt for the missing lad. 

I have never heard all the story of the search; but 
know that they visited more than one of the Indian 
villages, and perhaps would not have succeeded in 
their purpose but that Squanto was found at Nauset, 
and, aided by some of his savage friends, he speedily 
got on the track of the missing boy. 

Captain Standish and his men were absent three 
days before they came back, bringing James Billing- 
ton, and when his mother took him in her arms, re- 
joicing over his return as if he had really escaped some 
dreadful danger, Governor Bradford commanded that 
she and her husband give to James such a whipping 
as would prevent anything of the kind from happen- 



EVIL-MINDED INDIANS 



109 



ing again, for, as it appeared, the boy had willfully 
run away, counting, as he said, to turn Indian because 
of savages' not being obliged to work in the fields. 



EVIL-MINDED INDIANS 

It was during this summer that we had good cause 
for alarm. Word was brought by Samoset that a 
large party of Massasoit's people, being angry because 
of his having showed us white folks favor, were bent 
on attacking him and us, with the intent to destroy 
entirely our town of Plymouth. 




Captain Standish marched forth once more, this 
time with twelve men at his heels, and I heard John 



no MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

Alden tell my father that the brave soldier went di- 
rectly to the village of those who would have murdered 
us, where, without the shedding of blood, they took 
from all the evil-minded Indians their weapons. 

It seems more like some wild fancy than the sober 
truth, to say that twelve men could, without striking a 
blow in anger, overcome no less than sixty wild savages, 
and yet such was the case, for John Alden is known to 
be a truthful man, and Captain Standish one who is 
not given to boasting. 

The long dreary winter passed slowly, and during 
a goodly number of days we of Plymouth were hun- 
gry, although having sufficient of food to keep us from 
actual starvation. Yet never once did I hear any 
repining because of our having been brought to such 
straits through the neglect of those who came in the 
Fortune, and who should have provided themselves 
v/ith food sufficient for their wants until another harvest 
time had come. 

LONG HOURS OF PREACHING 

We went more often to the meeting-house in the fort 
than would have been the case, perhaps, had our bodi- 
ly comfort been greater, and Elder Brewster preached 
to us more fervently than mayhap he might have 
done but for the mawino; of huno;er in his stomach. 



LONG HOURS OF PREACHING iii 

Every Sabbath Day from nine o'clock in the morn- 
ing until noon, and after that, from noon to dark, did 
we sing, or pray, or listen to the elder's words of truth, 
all the while being hungry, and a goodly portion 
of the time cold unto the verge of freezing. 

My mother claimed that there was no reason why we 
should not have a fireplace in the meeting-house, even 
though none but the children might be allowed to ap- 
proach it; but Elder Brewster insisted that to think 
of bodily suffering while engaged in the worship of 
God, was much the same as a sin, and it seemed to 
Sarah and me as if his preaching was prolonged when 
the cold was most intense. 

Again and again have I sat on the puncheon benches, 
my feet numbed with the frost, my teeth chattering 
until it was necessary to thrust the corner of mother's 
mantle into my mouth to prevent unseemly noise, 
almost envying Master Hopkins when he walked from 
his bench to the pulpit in order to turn the hourglass 
for the second or third time, because of his thus having 
a chance for exercising his limbs. 

You must know that, having no clocks, the time 
in the meeting-house is marked by an hourglass, and 
it is the duty of one of the leading men of the settle- 
ment to turn it when the sand runs out. Therefore, 
when Master Hopkins has turned it the second time, 
thus showing that the third hour of the sermon has 



112 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



begun, I am so worldly-minded and so cold as to 
rejoice, because of knowing that Elder Brewster, save 
on especial days, seldom preaches more than the three 
hours. 

JOHN ALDEN'S tubs 

It was during this winter that John Alden, who is a 
cooper as well as Captain Standish's clerk, spent 

three days in our 
home, making for 
mother two tubs 
which are fair to 
look upon, and of 
such size that we are 
no longer troubled 
on washdays by 
being forced to 
throw away the 
soapy water in order 
to rinse the clothes 
which have already 
been cleansed. You 
may think it strange to hear me speak thus of 
the waste of soapy water, because you in Scrooby 
have of soap an abundance, while here in this 
new land we are put to great stress through lack 
of it. 




ENGLISH VISITORS ii3 

It would not be so ill if all the housewives would 
make a generous quantity, but there are some among 
us who are not so industrious as others, and dislike 
the labor of making soap. They fail to provide suf- 
ficient for themselves, but depend upon borrowing; 
thus spending the stores of those who have looked ahead 
for the needs of the future. 

Well, as I have said, the winter passed, and we were 
come to the second summer after making this settle- 
ment of Plymouth. 

Once more was famine staring us in the face, there- 
fore every man, woman and child, save those chosen 
to go fishing, was sent into the fields for the planting. 

ENGLISH VISITORS 

It was while our people were out fishing that they 
were met by a great surprise, which was nothing less 
than a shallop steering as if to come into the harbor, 
and in her were many men. 

At first our fishermen feared the visitors might be 
Frenchmen who had come bent on some evil intent ; but 
nevertheless our people approached boldly, and soon 
learned that the shallop came from a ship nearby, 
which Master Weston had sent out fishing from a 
place on the coast called Damarins Cove. 

This Master Weston, so I learned later, was one of 

MARY OF PLYMOUTH 8 



114 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



those merchants who had aided in fitting out our com- 
pany in England; but after our departure had decided 
to send a colony on his own account, and the people 
afterward settled at Wessagussett. 




The reason why the shallop, of which I have just 
spoken, came toward our village of Plymouth, was 
that Master Weston's ship had brought over seven 
men who wished to join us, and, what was yet 
better, they had with them letters from our friends 
at home. 

It was unfortunate that they had no food other than 
enough to serve until they should have come to our set- 
tlement, and thus it was that there were more mouths 
yet for us to feed from our scanty store. 

A few weeks later we heard that a company of men 
from England had begun to build a village within fiYt 
and twenty miles of our Plymouth town. There is 



VISITING THE NEIGHBORS ii5 

little need for me to say that we rejoiced to learn of 
neighbors in this wilderness of a country; but were 
more than surprised because the ship which brought 
them over the seas had not come into our harbor. 

VISITING THE NEIGHBORS 

That another village was to be built, and so near 
at hand that in case the savages came against us in 
anger we might call upon the people for aid, was of 
so much importance in the eyes of Governor Bradford, 
that he at once sent Captain Standish and six men 
to visit our neighbors. This he did not only in order 
to appear friendly, but with the hope that from the 
new-comers we might be able to add to our store 
of food. 

It was a great disappointment to all, and particular- 
ly to Sarah and me, when the captain came back with 
the report that the new settlers were glad to leave 
London streets. They were of Master Weston's com- 
pany; among them were those who had come in the 
shallop from Damarins Cove, bringing to us letters 
from England, and the people who were eager to cast 
in their lot with us. 

''They are a quarrelsome, worthless company, and 
have already fought with the Indians after having 
received favors from them," Captain Standish said 



ii6 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

to my father, when he had made his report to the 
governor. ''One Thomas Weston is the leader, and 
if he continues as he has begun, there will soon be an 
end of the entire party." 

Instead of getting food from them for our needs, 
it is more than likely, so the captain declares, that we may 
be called upon to save them from starvation. From 
the first they stole corn from the Indians, or took it 
by force, and it seemed certain they could not continue 
such a lawless course until harvest time. 

WHY MORE FISH ARE NOT TAKEN 

I can well fancy you are asking how it is we com- 
plain thus about the scarcity of food, when you know 
that the sea is filled with fish. 

Captain Standish declares that there are no less than 
two hundred different kinds to be found off this coast, 
and lobsters are at some seasons so plentiful that the 
smallest boy may go out and get as many as he can 
carry. I myself have seen one so large that I could 
hardly lift it, and father says its weight was upwards 
of twenty pounds. 

You will say that if we could send out a certain 
number of our people in boats to get food thus from 
the sea, what should prevent us from taking as many 
as would be necessary for our wants during one year? 



WHY MORE FISH ARE NOT TAKEN 



117 




I myself put that same question to father one night 
last winter while we were hungry, and mother and 
I sat chewing the 
dried leaves of the 
checkerberry plant 
which ground to 
powder between 
our teeth, and he 
answered me bit- 
terly: 

"It is owing to 
our own shortsight- 
edness, my daugh- 
ter; to our neglect to understand what might be met 
with in this new world. Those who made ready for 
the voyage believed we should find here food in abun- 
dance; but yet had no reason for such belief. It was 
known that we were to go into the wilderness, and yet, 
perhaps, for we will not say aught of harm against 
another, it was thought that we should find in the 
forest so much of fowls and of animals as would serve 
for all our needs." 

"But why do we not take more fish, father ?" I asked, 
speaking because such conversation served to keep my 
mind from the hunger which was heavy upon me. 

"Because of not having the lines, the hooks, or the 
nets with which to catch a larger store. When the 



ii8 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

Fortune sailed for home, Governor Bradford sent to 
the people in London who had made ready the May- 
Jiower, urging that they send in the next ship which 
may come to this land such fishing gear as is needed. 
When that reaches us, then shall we be able not only 
to guard against another time of famine; but have of 
cured fish enough to bring us in money sufficient to 
buy other things we now need." 

And thus speaking of money reminds me 'to set 
down what the savages use in the stead of gold and 
silver coins. 

HOW WAMPUM IS MADE 

You must know that the Indians hereabout 
have no tools of iron or of steel, as do you in 
Scrooby; but perform all their w^ork by means 
of fire and sharp pieces of flint stone. In 
order to have something that can be called 
money, although they of course do not use 
that word in speaking of it, they get from the 
dark spots which are found in clam shells, 
beads about one-eighth of an inch in thickness 
and an inch long. 

These they call wampum, and string them on 
threads cut from the skin of a deer. Because of 
a great deal of labor's being necessary in the 



MINISTERING TO MASSASOIT 



119 



making of them, these bits of wampum, or beads, 

are valued as highly by the Indians as we value gold or 

silver, and the savage 

who would hoard up his 

wealth that it may be 

seen of others, makes 

of these strings of 

wampum a belt many 

inches broad. 

It is convenient to 
wear these belts, for 
when the owner wishes i 
to buy something from 
another Indian or even from us white people, he has 
merely to take off one or two strings from the belt, 
thereby decreasing the width ever so slightly. 

When Massasoit came to Plymouth, he wore three 
of these wampum belts, and among those who followed 
him, I saw five or six who had an equal number. 




MINISTERING TO MASSASOIT 



It was early in this second springtime that had come 
to us in Plymouth, when Samoset brought word into 
the village that Massasoit, the savage chief that had 
been so kind to us, was ill unto death, and that 
those jealous Indians whom Captain Standish had 



I20 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



disarmed so valiantly, were only waiting until their king 
should die before they made an attack upon our town. 

This news was believed to be of such importance 
that straightway Governor Bradford commanded Cap- 
tain Standish to gather as many of his men as could 
be spared from Plymouth, and go at once to Massa- 
soit's village. 

This of itself would have received but scant atten- 
tion from my parents or me, for it seemed as if the 
captain was ever going out in search of some adventure 
or another; but on this occasion, it was urged by the 




governor that Master Winslow, who had shown himself 
during our first winter on these shores to have some 
considerable knowledge regarding sickness, go and try 
if he might not lend the savage king some aid. 

It was a fearsome time for everyone. We knew, 
because of what Samoset had said, that miany of 



THE PLOT THWARTED 121 

Massasoit's people were awaiting an opportunity to 
murder us, and, when Master Winslow should go into 
the village among so many enemies, it was to be feared 
the savages might fall upon him, knowing the chief 
was so ill he could not give the white man any 
help. 

During eight long, weary days we waited for the re- 
turn of Master Winslow, fearing each hour lest we 
should hear that he was no longer in this world, and 
then, to our great relief, he came into the village late 
one evening, while my mother and I were praying 
for his safe-keeping. 

Master Winslow had been most fortunate in the visit, 
for the good Lord allowed that the savage chief should 
be restored to health, and by way of showing his 
gratitude for what had been done, Massasoit told Mas- 
ter Winslow that the white people of Wessagussett had 
so ill-treated the Indians along the coast, that a plot 
was on foot to kill not only them, but us at Plymouth. 

THE PLOT THV^ARTED 

It was the same news which Samoset had brought 
us, and there could no longer be any doubt as to its 
truth. 

Captain Standish had come back only to set out 
again, for when Master Winslow told Governor Brad- 



122 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

ford that which Massasoit had said, several of our men 
were sent in hot haste to this place where Master Wes- 
ton's men Avere making so much mischief. Again 
we of Plymouth waited in anxious suspense until 
that day when Captain Standish, and all whom he 
had taken with him, returned once more to the 
village. 

They had met one Indian who, they believed, was 
planning to murder Captain Standish himself. This 
Indian and six of his savage companions they had 
killed, driving the others away into the forest. 

It was believed by father that the Indians, knowing 
we had ever treated them fairly and justly, and also that 
our men had punished those who did wrong, would 
no longer hold enmity against us of Plymouth simply 
because of our skins' being white. 

THE captain's INDIAN 

I must tell you that our captain has adopted a fol- 
lower who hugs him as closely as ever shadow could. 
It is a savage by the name of Hobomok, whom Samo- 
set brought to Plymouth. He must suddenly have 
fallen in love with our valiant warrior, for he keeps 
close at his heels during all the waking hours, and, as 
John Alden says, sleeps as near, during the night, as 
Captain Standish will permit. 



ARRIVAL OF THE "ANN" 123 

He is called by our people "the captain's Indian," 
and surely he appears to be as faithful and unselfish 
as any dog. 

BALLOTS OF CORN 

We have come to put this Indian corn, or Turkey 
wheat, to another use than that of eating, for it has 
been agreed to let the kernels serve as ballots in pub- 
lic voting. 

Each man may put into Standish's iron cap, which 
is what our people use when they cast their ballots, a 
single kernel of the corn to show that it is his intent 
to elect whomsoever had been 
spoken of for this or that office; 
but if a bean be cast, it is used as 
counting against him who desires 
to be elected, and a law has 
already been made which says 
that "if any man shall put more 
than one Indian corn or bean into Captain Stand- 
ish's helmet in time of pubHc election, he shall forfeit 
no less than ten pounds in lawful money." 



And now, because there is so much of excitement, 
owing to the frequent coming and going of strangers. 




124 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

which neither Sarah nor I can well understand, I will set 
down, in as few words as may be possible, only such 
news as seems of importance, beginning with the time 
before our second harvesting. 

Then the ship Ann came, bringing yet more people, 
although, fortunately, a considerable store of food, and 
in her were the wives and children of some of our 
company who had come over in the Mayflower. How 
joyous was the meeting between those who had long 
been separated. Sarah and I could see, however, that 
more than one of these women were disappointed, 
having most likely allowed themselves to believe their 
husbands were gathering riches in the new world. I 
heard one, who found her husband much the same 
as clad in rags, wish that she and her children were 
in England again. 

When the ship Ann went back to England, my 
mother and I were left alone, for it had been decided 
by the head men of the town that Master Edward 
Winslow should take passage in her to look after cer- 
tain business affairs of the colony, and, what seemed to 
me the more important, to buy some cows. The sorrow 
of it was that my father was chosen to journey with 
Master Winslow. 

We were exceedingly lonely, and should have felt yet 
more desolate but for Captain Standish and John Alden^ 
both of whom did whatsoever they might to cheer. 



THE NEW MEETING-HOUSE 125 

THE ^'little JAMES" COMES TO PORT 

It was while we were alone that the ship Little James 
came, laden with fifty men, women and children to be 
joined to our colony, and when they were settled, did 
it seem as if Plymouth was much the same as a city, 
with so many people coming and going. 

What with the food which had been brought in the 
Ann and the Little James, and with the bountiful har- 
vest we reaped in the fall, there seemed no longer to 
be any fear of famine ; and with so many hands to make 
light work, as Elder Brewster said, there was no good 
reason why we should not have a meeting-house to be 
used for no other purpose than as a place in which to 
worship God. 

THE NEW MEETING-HOUSE 

It was after the harvest time that the people set about 
building it, and that it might be seen by those who 
looked at it from the outside, to be a building other 
than for living purposes, the logs, instead of being set 
upright in the earth, were laid lengthwise, and notched 
at the ends in a most secure fashion, with a roof that 
rises to a peak like unto those on the houses in Scrooby. 

The very best of oiled paper is set in the windows. 
There is a real floor of puncheon boards, which we 



126 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

keep well covered with the white sand from the shore, 
and Priscilla ]\Iullens spends much time drawing with 
a stick fanciful figures in the glistening covering, caus- 
ing it to look like a real carpet. 

There are benches sufficient for all, and at that end 
opposite the door is the preacher's desk, over which 
hangs a sounding board, not delicately fashioned like 
the one at Scrooby, but made of puncheons, yet serv- 
ing well the purpose of allowing the preacher's voice 
to seem louder. 

Elder Brewster still believes that it would be wrong 
for us to have a fireplace in the meeting-house, be- 
cause one who truly worships his Maker should be 
willing to sacrifice his comfort. One Sabbath Day, 
when the elder's sermon was so long that the hourglass 
had been turned three times by the tithingman, and 
the sand was already running well for the fourth 
time, I believed of a truth that my feet were really 
frozen. 

But I did not even shuffle them on the floor, because 
once when I did so, a most serious lesson did my 
mother read me when we were at home again, and that 
very evening Elder Brewster spoke in meeting of the 
wickedness of children who had no more fear of God 
before their eyes than to disturb by unseemly noise 
those who had gathered for his worship. 

John x\lden, Avho is ever ready to do what he can 



THE CHURCH SERVICE 127 

for the comfort of others, has now nailed bags made of 
wolf skins on the benches, into which we may thrust 
our feet and thus keep them warm. 

THE CHURCH SERVICE 

Captain Standish has taught Master Bean's eldest 
son, Nathan, how to drum, and he it is who summons 
our people before nine of the clock in the morning, and 
one of the clock in the afternoon. 




Then we go from our homes in seemly fashion; but 
all the men carry their firearms and wear swords, for 
there are wicked Indians about, and many wild beasts 
which come even into the village, when there is much 
snow on the ground. Therefore do the fathers and the 
brothers of Plymouth guard the mothers and sisters. 



128 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

It is that part of the meeting-house on the right side 
as you go in, that has been set apart for the women 
and girls. The men have their benches on the op- 
posite side, while the boys, except the very, very little 
ones, sit directly under the preacher's desk, where all 
may know if they behave themselves in seemly fashion. 
Sarah says it would be much to the comfort of us 
girls if even the baby boys could be thus set apart 
by themselves. 

Deacon Chadwick leads the congregation in the 
songs of praise, by reading a line, for we have but four 
psalm books here, and then we sing such words as he 
has spoken; so it goes on throughout all the psalm, 
causing the music to sound halting and unequal. Be- 
sides which, it is seldom that the verses can be sung in 
such a manner within less than half an hour, and mean- 
while we must all be kept standing. 

When the meeting is over, and the morning service 
is nearly always finished within four hours, we re- 
main* in our seats until the preacher and his wife have 
gone out, after which the men march around to the 
deacon's bench, and there leave furs or corn, money 
or wampum, if perchance they have any, as gifts to- 
ward the support of the preaching. Sometimes, when 
I have a feeling of faintness from the cold and long 
hours of sitting, I cannot help envying the preacher 
and his wife being able to leave thus early. 



THE TITHINGMEN 



129 



THE TITHINGMEN 

The tithingmen are elected as town officers, *and 
each has ten families to visit during the week, when 
they hear the children recite their lessons for the next 
Sabbath Day. It is their duty to see that every person 
goes to the meeting-house on Sabbath Day, with no 
loitering on the way, and even after the preaching is 
over, and we have re- 
turned to our homes, 
do they march up and 
down the street to pre- 
vent us from straying 
out of doors until the 
Sabbath is at a close. 

My mother believes, 
and so do I, that it 
would be better if the 
tithingmen refrained 
from walking to and fro in the church while the elder 
is preaching; but so they do, each carrying a stick 
which has a knob on one end and a fox or wolf tail 
on the other, striking the unruly children on the head 
with the knob end of the stick, and tickling with the 
fox tail the faces of those who are so ungodly as to 
sleep during the preaching. 

MARY OF PLYvIOUTH Q 




130 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



MASTER WINST.OW BRINGS HOME COWS 

I^iespair of trying to make you understand how thank- 
ful we were to God, when the ship in which Master 
Winslow and father returned, sailed into the harbor. 

It seemed to me as if I should never have enough of 
looking at him, or feeling the pressure of his hand up- 
on my head, after he had thus been gone for eight 
weary months; but, strange to say, the others in the 
town thought it more pleasing to look at the cattle 
which Master Winslow brought, than at our people 
who had come back to us. 

Yes, in the ship Charity, on which Master Winslow 
and father came, were three cows and a bull, and you 
who have never known the lack of butter, cheese, and 
milk, cannot understand how grateful our people 
were for such things. 

The animals were no sooner on shore and eating^ 




A REAL OVEN i3i 

greedily, than straightway we pictured to ourselves a 
large herd of cows, such as are seen in England, and 
when for the first time we saw the milk, a spoonful 
was given to each person in order that he or she might 
once more know the taste of it. 

In the same vessel came a preacher, by name of 
John Lyford, a ship carpenter, and a man who is 
skilled in making salt; therefore does it seem now as 
if our town of Plymouth could boast of nearly as many 
comforts and conveniences as you enjoy at Scrooby. 

Nor were the return of father and Master Winslow, 
the coming of the animals, the arrival of the salt man, 
or the joining to our company of the preacher, the 
only things for which we had to give thanks. 

A REAL OVEN 

Father brought in the vessel as many bricks as 
would serve to make an oven by the side of our fire- 
place, and thus it was that we were the first family in 
Plymouth who could bake bread or roast meats, as do 
people in England. 

This oven is built on one side of the fireplace, with 
a hole near the top, for the smoke to go through. It 
has a door of real iron, with an ash pit below, so that 
we may save the ashes for soap-making without stor- 
ing them in another place. 



132 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



At first the oven was kept busily at work for the 
benefit of our neighbors, being heated each day, but 
for our own needs it is used once a week. Inside, a 

great fire of dried 
wood is kindled 
and kept burning 
from morning un- 
til noon, when it 
has thoroughly 
heated the bricks. 
Then the coals 
and ashes are 
swept out ; the 
chimney draught 
is closed, and the 
oven filled with 
whatsoever we have to cook. A portion of our 
bread is baked in the two pans which mother 
owns; but the rest of it we lay on green leaves, and it 
is cooked quite as well, although one is forced to 
scrape a few cinders from the bottom of the loaf. 




BUTTER AND CHEESE 



Can you imagine how Sarah and I feasted when, 
for the first time in four years, we had milk to drink, 
and butter and cheese to eat? 



THE SETTLEMENT AT WESSAGUSSETT 



133 



You must not believe that we drank milk freely, as 
do you at Scrooby, for there are many people in Ply- 
mouth, all of whom had been hungering for it even as 
had Sarah and I. Father claimed that each must have 
a certain share, therefore it is a great feast day with us 
when we have a large spoonful on our pudding, or 
to drink. 

John Alden made a most beautiful churn for moth- 
er; but many a long month passed before we could 
get cream enough 
to make butter, so 
eager were our 
people for the milk. 
Now, however, when 
there 'are seventeen 
cows in this town of 
ours, we not only 
have butter on extra 
occasions; but twice 
each year mother 
makes a cheese. 




THE SETTLEMENT AT WESSAGUSSETT 



Because of having spent so much time, and set down 
so many words in trying to describe how we hved when 
we first came to this new world, I must hasten over 



134 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

that which occurred from day to day, in order to tell 
you what seems to me of the most importance, with- 
out giving heed to the time when the events took 
place. 

I have already told you of the village at Wessagus- 
sett, which was built by men who had been sent to 
this land by Master Weston, and also that they were 
driven away by Captain Standish because of working 
so much mischief among the Indians that our own 
lives were in danger. 

Well, it was not long after Captain Standish had 
punished them, before one and then another came 
back to the huts, which had been left unharmed, 
and we at Plymouth learned of their doings through 
Samoset or Squanto. 

Had they been God-fearing people, willing to obey 
our laws, Governor Bradford would have welcomed 
them right gladly; but because of their refusing to do 
that which was right, and their giving themselves 
up to riotous living, our fathers could do no less than 
hold them at a distance. 

Then it was that one Master Thomas Morton, 
calling himself a gentlemen, who came over in the 
Charity and had lived among us in Plymouth a short 
time, much to the shame and discomfort of those who 
strove to profit by the teachings of the Bible, claimed 
that the evil-doers at Wessagussett were being wronged 



THE VILLAGE OF MERRY MOUNT 



i3S 



by us. He even went so far as to tell Governor Bradford 
to his face that he was stiff-necked and straight- 
laced, preaching what decent men could not practice. 

THE VILLAGE OF I^FERRY MOUNT 



After such a shameful outburst, it did not 
surprise any one that he joined those at Wessagus- 
sett, and perhaps it was as well that he 
did so, for he would not have been 
permitted to remain longer in Plymouth. 
Master Morton changed the name of 
the village to Merry Mount, and it has 
been said that everyone there gave him- 
self over to riotous living. They do 
not even have a meeting house, 
and John Alden declares that they 
never pray, except by reading 
prayers out of a book, which is an 
evil practice, so Elder Brewster 
insists. 

Captain Standish sorely offended 
mother by saying he cared not 
whether they read or sang their prayers, so 
that they stopped selling firearms and strong 
drink to the Indians. But this last they did, 
until the captain could no longer hold his 




Flint- 
Lock 
Gun 



Match 

Lock 

Gun 



136 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

temper in check, and he laid the matter before 
Governor Bradford and the chief men of the town. 

Then did the governor send to Master Morton by 
Squanto a letter, telling him that for the safety of all 
the white people he ought to stop his evil work of 
teaching the savages how to use firearms, which might 
one day be turned against us. 

To this Master Morton made reply that he had sold 
firearms to the savages, and would do so as long as he 
liked. He said his doings did not concern us of Ply- 
mouth, and that no man could make him do other 
than as he pleased. 

After reading the letter from Master Morton, the 
governor sent Captain Standish with fourteen men to 
Merry Mount, and Sarah's father told her that there 
was a disagreeable battle before the captain could 
bring Master ]^-.iorton away. He was kept in Plymouth 
until a vessel sailed for England, and then sent back in 
her, much against his will, but those who were so ven- 
turesome as to talk with him before he left, claim that 
he threatened to come back at some later day, when he 
would have revenge upon the governor and the captain. 

THE FIRST SCHOOL 

I must not forget to tell you that last year there was 
opened a school, in that part of the old fort which was 



THE FIRST SCHOOL 137 

first used as a meeting-house. Our friends in Eng- 
land sent to us a preacher by name of John Lyford, as 
I have aheady said, and he it was who began the school, 
teaching all children whose parents could pay him a 
certain amount either in wampum, beaver skins, corn, 
wheat, peas, or money. 

Sarah and I went during seven weeks, and would 
have remained w^hile school was open, but that Master 
Lyford had hot words with Governor Bradford be- 
cause of letters which he wrote to his friends in Eng- 
land, wherein were many false things set down con- 
cerning us of Plymouth. Then it was father declared 
that I should go on with my studies at home, rather 
than be taught by a man who was doing whatsoever 
he might to bring reproach upon our village. 

It caused me much sorrow thus to give over learning, 
for Master Lyford taught us many new things, and 
neither Sarah nor I could understand how it would 
work harm to us, even though we did study under the 
direction of one who was not a friend to Plymouth. 

I felt sorry because of Master Lyford's having done 
that which gave rise to ill feelings among our people, 
since it resulted in his being sent away from Plymouth. 
It would not have given me sorrow to see him go, for 
to my mind he was not a friendly man; but it seemed 
much like a great loss to the village, when the school 
was closed. 



138 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

It would surprise you to know how comfortable 
everything was in the school; it seemed almost as if we 
children were being allowed to give undue heed to 
the pleasures of this world, though I must confess that 
during the first hour of the morning session we were 
distressed by the smoke. 

TOO MITCH SMOKE 

When the room had been used as a Sabbath Day 
meeting-house, there was neither chimney nor fireplace, 
because Elder Brewster believed that too much bodily 
comfort would distract our thoughts from the duty 
we owed the Lord. But when the place had been 
turned into a schoolroom, it was necessary to have 
warmth, if for no other reason than that the smaller 
children might not be frost-bitten. 

John Billington was hired to build a fireplace and 
chimney, and, as all in Plymouth know, he dislikes to 
work even as does his son James. Therefore it was 
that he failed to make the chimney of such height above 
the top of the fort as would admit of a fair draught, 
so Master Lyford declared, and we were sorely 
troubled with smoke until the fire had gained good 
headway. 

It was the duty of the boys to provide wood and 
keep the fire burning; while we girls kept the room 



SCHOOL COMFORTS 



139 



swept and cleanly, all of which tended to give us a 
greater interest in the school. 



SCHOOL COMFORTS 



For our convenience when learning to write, puncheon 
planks were fastened to the four sides of the room, 
with stakes on the front edges to serve as legs in order 
to hold them in a sloping position, and at such desk- 
like contrivances we stood while using a pen, or work- 
ing at arithmetic with strips of birch-bark in the 
stead of paper. The same benches which had been 
built when the room was our meeting-house, served as 
seats when we had need to rest our legs. 




I40 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

Master Lyford built for himself a desk in the cen- 
ter of the room, where he could overlook us all, and 
so great was his desire for comfort, which was one of 
the complaints made against him by Governor Brad- 
ford, that he had fastened a short piece of puncheon 
plank to one side of the log which served as chair, 
so that he might lean his back against it when he 
was weary. 

HOW THE CHILDREN WERE PUNISHED 

It must be set down that he was not indolent when 
it seemed to him that one of us should be punished. 
As Captain Standish said, after he had looked into the 
room to see James Billington whipped for having 
been idle, the teacher ''had a rare brain for inventing 
instruments for disciphne." 

It was the flapper which the captain had seen in 
use upon James, and surely it must have caused great 

pain when laid on with all 
Master Lyford's strength. A 
piece of tanned buckskin, six 
inches square, with a round 
hole in the middle large enough 
for me to thrust my thumb through, fastened to a 
wooden handle, — this was the flapper, and when it 
was brought down heavily upon one's bare flesh, a 




HOW THE CHILDREN WERE PUNISHED 141 

blister was raised the full size of the hole in the 
leather. 

He had also a tattling stick, which was made of half 
a dozen thick strips of deer hide fastened to a short 
handle, and when he flogged the children with it, they 
were forced to lie down over a log hewn with a sharp 
edge at the top. This sharp edge of wood, together 
with the blows from the stout thongs, caused great 
pain. 

Master Lyford was not always so severe in his punish- 
ment. He had whispering-sticks, which were thick 
pieces of wood to be placed in a child's mouth until 
it was forced wide open, and 
then each end of the stick was 
tied securely at the back of 
the scholar's neck in such a 
way that he could make no 
manner of noise. Sarah wore 

one of these nearly two hours because of whispering 
to me, and when it was taken out, the poor child could 
not close her jaws until I had rubbed them gently 
during a long while. 

Then there was the single-legged stool, upon which 
it was most tiring to sit, and this was given to the 
child who would not keep still upon his bench. I was 
forced to use it during one whole hour, because of 
drumming my feet upon the floor when the cold was 




142 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



most bitter, and the fire would not burn owing to the 
wood being so wet. It truly seemed to me, before the 
punishment was come to an end, as if my back had 
been broken. 

Master Lyford was also provided with five or six 
dunce's caps, made of birch bark, on which were 
painted in fair letters such names 
as '^Tell-Tale," ''Bite-Finger-Baby," 
"Lying Ananias," ''Idle Boy," and 
other ugly words. 

However, I dare say this was for 
good, and went far toward aiding us 
in our studies. Master Allerton de- 
clares that there are no truer words 
in the Book, than those which teach 
us that to spare the rod is to spoil 
the child, and surely we of Plymouth 
were not spoiled in such manner by Master Lyford, 
nor by the other teachers who came to us later. 




NEW VILLAGES 



While I have been setting down all these things 
that you might know how we lived here in the wilder- 
ness, other villages have been built around us until 
we can no longer say we are alone, or that our only 
neighbors are those Englishmen in Virginia, which 



NEW VILLAGES 143 

place is so far away that we should need make a voyage 
in a ship in order to come at it. 

First I will speak of that village of Merry Mount, 
wherein dwell those people who, led by Thomas Mor- 
ton, are a reproach to those who walk in the straight 
path. 

Then, so we have heard, there are white men living 
on the river called Saco; at the mouth of the river 
Piscataqua and higher up the stream is, so Squanto 
declares, a village called Cochecho. 

At Pemaquid, and on the nearby island of Monhe- 
gan, are settlements whose dwellers are nearly all 
fishermen, and who send their catch to England. 

One Captain Wollaston, with between thirty and 
forty men, 'began to make a village on the seashore 
not above fifty miles from here; but he soon tired of 
battling with the wilderness, and set sail with all his 
people for Virginia. 

Master John Oldham, who came to Plymouth with 
Master Lyford, having had hot words with Governor 
Bradford, set off for a place called Nantasket, where, 
in company with four other discontented ones of our 
village, he aims to make a town. 

Near by Plymouth, if one makes the journey by boat, 
is a town called Salem, lately set up with Master En- 
dicott as the governor, wherein Hve more than two 
hundred people, and within a few weeks it has been 



144 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 



said that another company are making homes on Mas- 
sachusetts Bay, calling the place Charlestown. 

Therefore you can see how fast this new world is 
being covered with villages and towns, and we who 
were the first to gain a foothold in the wilderness, are 
surrounded by neighbors until it seems as if the land 
were really thronged with people. 



MAKING READY FOR A JOURNEY 

Not two months ago my father got word that among 
those who had come to build homes at the place al- 
ready named Salem, were many of our old friends whom 




we left behind at Leyden, and I was nearly wild with 
delight when he said to my mother: 

"Verily we two have earned a time of rest, and if 
it be to your mind we will go even so far as Salem, to 



MAKING READY FOR A JOURNEY 145 

greet those friends of ours who have so lately come 
from Leyden." 

"And Mary?" my mother asked. 

"She shall go with us. If you and I are to give our- 
selves over to pleasure, it is well she should have a 
share." 

Since the day on which we landed from the May- 
flower, I had not been allowed to stray above half a 
mile from the village, and now I was to journey like 
a princess, with nothing to do save seek that which 
might serve for my pleasure or amusement. 

Then, remembering how sad at heart Sarah would 
be if we were parted after having been so much to- 
gether these ten years, I made bold to ask my mother 
if she might journey with us, and after having speech 
with my father, she gave her consent. 

There is no need for me to tell you that we two girls 
were wondrously happy and woefully excited at the 
idea of visiting strange people, concerning whom we 
had heard not a little, for, as Captain Standish has 
said, never were homeseekers outfitted in such plenty. 

When he heard of what father counted on doing, 
Captain Standish offered to make one of the party, 
saying that it would gladden him to see a friendly face 
from Leyden, and it was his idea that we go in the 
shallop, taking with us John Alden to aid in working 
the vessel. 

MARY OF PLYMOUTH lO 



146 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

You can well fancy that Sarah and I were pleased 
to have the captain with our party, for he has ever 
been a good friend of ours, and as for John Alden, if 
Mistress Priscilla was willing to spare him from home, 
we were content, knowing he was at all times ready, 
as well as eager, to do his full share of whatsoever 
labor might be at hand. 

CLOTHING FOR THE SALEM COMPANY 

Just fancy! The Massachusetts Bay Company gave 
to each man and boy who came over from England to 
Salem four pairs of shoes, and four pairs of stockings 
to wear with them, a stout pair of Norwich garters, 
together with four shirts, and two suits of doublet and 
hose of leather hned with oiled skin. As if that were 
not enough, to the list were added a woolen suit lined 
with leather, two handkerchiefs, and a green cotton 
waistcoat. Then came a leather belt, a woolen cap^ 
a black hat, two red knit caps, two pairs of gloves, 
a cloak lined with cotton, and an extra pair of 
breeches. 

Is it any wonder that Sarah and I were eager to see 
these gentlemen who must have needed a baggage 
ship in order to bring over their finery. Think of 
people coming into the wilderness outfitted in such 
extravagant fashion as that! 



PREPARING FOOD FOR THE JOURNEY 147 

Surely they should be able to live comfortably, and 
without anxiety for the future, because the company 
that sent them to build the town of Salem, took good 
care that they were provided with provisions in plenty 
until they had sown and reaped. 

If we of Pl3miouth had come so burdened with 
clothes and food, we should have been spared many a 
sad day, when an empty stomach, scantily covered with 
thin clothing, knew at the same time the biting of the 
frost and the gnawing of hunger. It is little wonder 
that Sarah and I were eager to see these fortunate 
people, if for no other reason than to learn how they 
carried themselves before us of Plymouth, who failed 
of being fine birds through absence of fine feathers. 

PREPARING FOOD FOR THE JOURNEY 

During one full week before the time set for us to 
leave home, mother and I worked from daylight until 
dark making ready the food, for it was no slight task 
to prepare enough to fill the stomachs of all our com- 
pany. 

It is true we would be housed and fed in Salem; but 
no one could say how the voyage might be prolonged, 
if the wind proved contrary, therefore did it behoove 
us to prepare for a long passage lest we suffer from hun- 
ger by the way. 



148 



MARY OF PLYMOUTH 






^ 



^- 



'^fe 



"^^^^^ 



Vm 



'^uf 



^^l^i^p 



We made nookick enough, 
as father said, for the Plymouth "v^^^^ 
army, and of Indian corn meal^^' ^^"^i 
and pumpkin bread, no less than /^^g; 
twenty large loaves. We had a sweet ^^^ 
pudding in a bag for each person, "^ 
counting Sarah and me; Captain 
Standish had shot two wild ducks as his portion of the 
stores, and these had been roasted until they were of 
a most delicious brown shade, causing one's mouth to 
water when looking at them. 

Father had cut up the salt and pickled fish until it 
could be stored in gourds, and John Alden caught 
lobsters enough to prevent our suffering from hunger 
during at least two days. 

We had two pumpkins freshly roasted, which would 
remain sweet a long while; the full half of a small 
cheese, a pat of butter as a luxury, and much else 
which I cannot well call to mind. 



BEFORE SAILING FOR SALEM 



The hinder part of the shallop was partly filled with 
dried beach grass, that we might have a soft bed if so 



BEFORE SAILING FOR SALEM 



49 



be we were, as it seemed likely, still on the voyage when 
night came. In the forward portion of the vessel was 
a keg of John Alden's making, filled with sweet spring 
water, and thus, as you may see, everything had been 
done to minister to our comfort. 

I was half afraid Elder Brewster might force us to 
wait beyond the day appointed for leaving, in order to 
read us more than one lesson on the sin of over-in- 
dulgence; but, fortunately, he could not spend the 
time to overlook the preparations, because of building 
a new chimney to his house, the old one having burned 
on Saturday night. 

On the evening before we sailed, many of our neigh- 
bors came in to pray with us that God would have us 
in His holy keeping while we wandered so far from 
home, and my eyes were filled to overflowing when 
Elder Brewster made special mention of Sarah and 
me, asking that we might not be led from straight 
paths by the sight of so much worldly vanity as was 
likely waiting for us in that town of Salem, which had 
grown so suddenly and so rapidly. 

Sarah slept with me on that night, and after we were 
gone to bed in the kitchen, we could hardly close our 
eyes, so great was our excitement, as we thought of 
all the strange sights we were likely to see. I am of 
the belief that we had not been asleep above an hour, 
when mother came to make ready the morning meal. 



I50 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

It was yet dark; but father had it in mind to make 
the start as soon as day broke, and there was much to 
be done before that time. We ate hurriedly of the 
Indian corn meal pudding, and then Captain Standish 
and John Alden came to join us in the service of praise, 
when I am afraid my sin was great, for I could hardly 
keep my mind on the words of his prayer, so eager 
did I feel to begin the journey. 

Elder Brewster has told us children again and again 
that we are offending God when we allow our thoughts 
to stray while He is being worshiped, and even with 
his warning in mind, I could not but wonder why 
father's prayer was so much longer on that morning 
than I ever had known before. Twice I heard Cap- 
tain Standish cough while we were on our knees, and 
I was so wicked as to feel pleased because he, like me, 
had grown impatient. 

THE JOURNEY 

The day had not fully dawned when we marched 
down to the shore where the shallop lay at anchor; 
but early though the hour was, we found there assembled 
nearly all the townspeople, come to bid us Godspeed on 
the dangerous journey. One would have thought we 
were counting to travel as far as England, to judge from 
the looks of sorrow on the faces of our friends, and we 



THE JOURNEY 



151 



did not go aboard the small vessel until Elder Brewster 
had prayed once more for our safe return from the 
place where temptation in so many forms awaited us. 
However much time I might spend over the task, 
it would be impossible for me to describe, in such a 
manner that you could understand it, the pleasure 




which Sarah and I had during the journey. It was our 
first voyaging in so small a vessel, but we could not 
well have been alarmed, for the sea was as smooth as 
velvet, save where it was ruffled here and there by the 
gentle breeze which filled the sail of the shallop. 

Both my father and Captain Standish fretted be- 
cause there was not wind enough to send us along at 
a smarter pace; but we girls were well content with 
the slow progress, since it would be but prolonging 
our pleasure 



152 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

As the day grew older, we partook of food, and each 
one, save him who was at the helm, chose such posi- 
tion as was best suited to comfort. Father pointed 
out to us certain landmarks on the coast, which he 
said had been set down by Captain John Smith of 
Virginia when he journeyed in this region, and John 
Alden told of settlers who had begun to make plan- 
tations on the shores of Massachusetts Bay. 

At noon father read from the Book, while John Alden 
steered, and after a season of prayer mother spoke with 
Captain Standish concerning friends in Holland. 

It was as if this carried the captain's mind back to 
the time when he had been an officer in the Dutch 
army, for straightway he began telling stories of ad- 
venture and of thrilling escapes from death, until 
Sarah and I were at the same time entranced and 
alarmed. Even though I burned to have him continue, 
it was a relief when he changed the subject to speculate 
upon what the future might hold for us of Plymouth. 

When night came, we were yet at sea, and mother, 
Sarah, and I lay down on the dry beach grass in the 
bottom of the boat, after father had once more prayed 
that the Lord would hold us, as He does the sea, in 
the hollow of His hand. We slept as sweetly us if in 
our own beds at Plymouth, never once awakening un- 
til Captain Standish cried out that we should open our 
eyes to the glory of the sunrise. 



THE ARRIVAL AT SALEM 



^53 



THE ARRIVAL AT SALEM 



We were then near unto the village of Salem, and 
there was no more than time in which to break our 
fast, and join with father in thanks to God because of 
His having saved us through the night, when the 
shallop was run in as close to land as the depth of 
water would permit. 

Captain Standish carried each of us ashore, wading 
in the sea knee-deep to do so, and after we were stand- 




ing dry-shod on the sand, the vessel was pushed off 
at anchor, lest she should take ground when the tide 
went down. 

Then we went into the village, where already more 
than thirty houses had been built, father and Cap- 
tain Standish walking in the lead, while John Alden 
remained by the side of mother, and we girls followed 



154 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

on behind, soberly and slowly, even though our hearts 
were beating fast with excitement. 

Not for long were we left to our own devices. As 
soon as we were seen by one of the women, all our 
party were made welcome to Salem, and when it was 
learned that we had come from Plymouth, in the hope 
of meeting those whom we had known at Leyden, it 
was as if every person in the village made effort to en- 
tertain us. 

SIGHT-SEEING IN SALEM 

It is not for me to say ought against those who 
treated us so kindly; but yet I must set it down that 
Sarah and I were somewhat disappointed. There was 
no such show of luxury and vanity as we had been 
led to expect, after learning how wondrously these 
people had been supplied with clothes. The houses 
were no better than could be found in our own village 
of Plymouth, and, save that there was pickled beef 
and pork in great abundance, the food was no more 
tempting. 

The elders of our little company speedily found 
old friends whom they had parted with in Leyden; 
but Sarah and I, having been so young when we left 
Holland, could not be expected to remember any of 
the children. We wandered here and there however, 



BACK TO PLYMOUTH 



155 




being greeted by strangers as if we were old friends, 
comparing all we saw with that which could be found 
in Plymouth, and coming to believe that ours was 
the most goodly home. 



BACK TO PLYMOUTH 



I believe we looked forward to going back quite as 
eagerly as we had to coming. Right glad were all 
of us, including even Captain Standish, when we said 
good-by to the people of Salem, and our shallop, with 
a strong wind astern, sailed with her bow toward 
Plymouth. 

^^It is well that we go abroad at times, if for no other 
reason than to learn how dear is our own hearthstone,'' 
the captain said in a tone of content, as he sat in the 



156 MARY OF PLYMOUTH 

bottom of the boat with his back against the mast, 
burning the Indian weed in a little stone vessel which 
Hobomok had brought to him from Massasoit's 
village. 

Then he fell to telhng Sarah and me stories, tiring 
not until we were once more at home, for the return 
voyage was exceeding speedy. 

And now, because I am just returned to the place 
where we landed ten years ago, concerning which I 
have been trying to tell you, it is well I should come to 
the end, trusting that the Lord may be as good to you, 
as he has been to us children of Plymouth during all 
these years of hardships and sorrows. 



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